


A Mothers Touch

by FairToMiddling93



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: AU, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Child Abuse, Did I mention it's six stories now?, Dysfunctional Family, Ella is a toy not a horcruxe, F/F, F/M, Family Secrets, Five stories over the course of 9 years, Henry and William are rich as hell, Henry's got a backstory that I don't know how to tell in this story but I hinted at it, High School, I did hint at it in case I want to do it, I promise, I stole Lora from Pinky, I stole Taking Flight from Skullybow7, I'm not good at writing it anyways, It's only for the plot, It's still only for the plot, Jealous Michael, Kenny's Mom has two boyfriends, Like serious issues, M/M, Michael's got issues, Mrs. Afton is an asshole, Prom, Rape, Sexual Content, Tags Subject to Change, The Afton's have issues, Trigger Warning I Guess?, Underage - Freeform, Unplanned Pregnancy, Verbal Abuse, William is in an abusive relationship, William isn't a Kiddie Strangler, Yarg Foxy, as the characters age/mature so does the content and subject matter, but I changed it, it's only mentioned, lol, nothing descriptive, probably, slight sexual conent, this is my first real fan fiction go easy on me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 57,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23776858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairToMiddling93/pseuds/FairToMiddling93
Summary: Elizabeth hadn't realized how messed up the Afton family was until she spent the night at Charlie's. Charlie didn't have to deal with an older sibling who spent every waking moment making her life miserable. Charlie didn't have to comfort her younger siblings every night. And Charlie's Mom loved her.Six stories over the course of nine years, telling the tragic story of the Afton Family and Lora Afton's mistreatment of her four children, with Elizabeth as the main character.STORIESNo Strings Attached (Released)Class President (Released)Permission Slip (Released)Homecoming Part 1 (Released)Homecoming Part 2 (Released)Tis The Season Part 1 (Released)Tis The Season Part 2 (Released)Tis The Season Part 3 (Released)Save The Last Dance Part 1 (Released)Save The Last Dance Part 2 (Coming Soon!)Save The Last Dance Part 3 (W.I.P.)Save The Last Dance Part 4 (W.I.P.)Epilogue (W.I.P.)My first real fan fiction so I'm learning a lot of things with this. I've borrowed elements from the Taking Flights AU from u/Skullybow7 on Reddit, and I'm using PinkyPill's name for Mrs. Afton.
Relationships: Cassidy & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, Charlotte "Charlie" Emily & Henry Emily, Charlotte "Charlie" Emily & Jessica, Charlotte "Charlie" Emily/John (Five Nights at Freddy's), Elizabeth Afton & Cassidy, Elizabeth Afton & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, Elizabeth Afton & Charlotte "Charlie" Emily's Mother, Elizabeth Afton & Jessica, Elizabeth Afton & Michael Afton, Elizabeth Afton & Original Character(s), Elizabeth Afton & William Afton | Dave Miller, Elizabeth Afton/Charlotte "Charlie" Emily, Elizabeth Afton/Original Character(s), Henry Emily/Charlotte "Charlie" Emily's Mother, More Apply, Mrs. Afton/Original Character(s), Susie & Cassidy (Five Nights at Freddy's), Susie & Jeremy, William Afton | Dave Miller/Mrs. Afton
Comments: 16
Kudos: 88





	1. Story 1: No Strings Attached

"It's, really creepy," Vanessa says to her husband. He's called the nearly entire family into his garage workshop to look at his newest creation.

"Wow Ness, wow," Henry responds offended. 

"It is. Come on Charlie, you have to agree with me. Look at it!" the brunette says to her daughter, hoping for an answer of agreement.

"It is kind of creepy," her daughter responds, "why does it have tear marks Dad?"

"I don't know, it's... an aesthetic design I guess."

"Henry, you can't put that thing in the restaurant, you're going to scare away all of our customers," his wife explained to him. 

"I haven't even told you what it does yet," Henry interjects excitedly, "we're going to put it in the prize corner. During birthday parties, the birthday child can get a gift from it."

"So great now we're giving out free things AND scaring away our customers."

"Fine, we'll up the price of the birthday package by five bucks, you happy?"

"So Matt's just going to shove a random thing in a box and let the kid have it? Not really that special."

"No, the Puppet's box is going to have a computer that is going to pick the prize at random. Then Matt puts it in the box," Henry explains to his wife, hoping to put to rest any doubts she has about his newest creation. After all, she was the one in charge of Fazbear Entertainment's financial department. She was the only person he had to please, and the only person at Fazbear Entertainment that he feared.

"I want to see every toy on that computer. We're just going to give away Plushtrap Chasers and Lonely Freddy's willy-nilly."

"You care way too much about money." 

"I care about the future of this family."

"Okay then. Uh, well I do control the company in the end and the Puppet's going up."

"Of course. I'm only messing with you Henry. Making sure you don't run this company into the ground that's all."

"You know what actually, let's test this on Sammy," Henry says, running inside. Charlie could hear her father yell for Sammy, although the sounds were muffled due to the thickness of the walls. A request from both Charlie and her mother so they didn't have to listen to Henry banging on metal all day. He thought it was unnecessary since he mainly worked when no one was home, but alas he'd do anything to keep his family happy. 

"Okay, Sammy. This is the newest animatronic for Freddy's. What do you think of it?" Henry asks his five-year-old son. 

"It's scary."

"Bam!" Vanessa yelled, knowing her point was proven.

"Fine you win, but I'm not changing it. I can't wait to see it in the Prize Corner."

"I've got an idea for an animatronic," Charlie blurts out randomly. Vanessa and Henry both turn to their daughter. 

"What?" Henry asks quickly.

"A hippo."

"A hippo?" Henry asks, confused.

"That's all I got."

"Okay then, what should we call him?"

"Mr. Hippo."

"Well then, what should he do?"

"Tell really long and boring stories."

"Why would I turn that into an animatronic?" 

"I don't know I just thought it would be funny."

"We're trying to entertain our costumers not bore them," Vanessa interjects, "but, if we have him spread a good message that may get more people on our side. Like, 'vote early and vote often.'"

"Ness toddlers can't vote."

"I know."

"Okay then, well I'll take this thing to Freddy's later and we'll run some trials with Matt to make sure it's servos work and everything."

"Well, I should probably talk to the marketing team about this. And the guys down at Channel 6. They're just about to start production of season 3 of Fredbear and Friends and I think that having this puppet thing appear in it could be great marketing. And your.. uh.. hippo," Vanessa pointing at Charlie. She turns around and exits the garage.

"I was joking about Mr. Hippo," Charlie says, but her mother is already out of earshot.

"Well, that's all I needed you two for you guys can leave now," Henry says to his children, before returning to his workbench. Sitting on it is another new animatronic Henry has in the works, Balloon Boy.

Charlie ran up to her room. She wanted to tell Elizabeth all about the Puppet and how it's going to be installed just in time for her birthday party next week. She had a landline in her bedroom, because her parents didn't trust her to have a cellphone yet, and quite frankly an eight year old doesn't need one. She knew her mother used her cellphone for business meetings so it was free to use. Hopefully at least. She tested to make sure no one was on the phone, and then called the Afton household.

"Hello?" a sexy British voice asks (yes P.J.'s voice is sexy and no one can tell me otherwise). 

"Mr. Afton, is Elizabeth home?"

"Oh hi Charlie, yeah she's in the living room, just give me a minute. Elizabeth! Charlie wants to talk. Here she comes."

"Charlie!"

"Elizabeth!"

"Are you ready for my party next Saturday?

"That's why I'm calling," Charlie begins, "my Dad just finished a up new animatronic. It gives the birthday kid a present from the prize corner! For free!"

"Wow!" Elizabeth gasps, fascinated by the prospect, "is it going to be ready for my birthday?"

"They're setting it up today!"

"Wow! Oh my god I'm so excited!" Elizabeth squealed. 

"Elizabeth!" an adult, female voice screamed, "get off the phone, I need to make a call."

"But Mum, it's Charlie!"

"I don't care, I need to call and make sure that your grandma isn't getting you an Ella doll."

"Why can't I have one Mum?"

"Because Elizabeth, after that report card you don't need an eighty dollar doll now, get, off, the, phone!"

"Bye Charlie," Elizabeth said to her friend in defeat.

"Bye Elizabeth."

After surrendering the phone to her mother, Elizabeth wandered into the kitchen to get a snack. In the kitchen, Michael and his three friends Jonathon, Billy, and Darren. Darren had recently gotten in trouble at school for excessively touching the snails. 

"Hey look, it's Little Lizzy!" Darren laughed, pointing at the blonde, "gonna have your birthday at Freddy Fazbear's Little Lizzy?"

"Such a baby!" Billy mocked, "only babies like Freddy Fazbear's." 

"Yeah!" Mike laughs, continuing the cruel teasing.

"Fuck!" a voice yells from the garage. Elizabeth runs towards it. Inside, her father William is waving a cloth as fast as possible over one of his animatronics. He was creating a new line of machines for a sister location to Freddy Fazbear's. Circus Baby's Pizza World, and today he was working on Funtime Foxy. 

"Daddy?" Elizabeth cries out, hoping that he's not hurt.

"Don't worry about me Lizzy, your old Dad can't get hurt. Especially not by an animatronic."

"That's because you're the best!"

"I wouldn't say that, but if you insist."

Elizabeth returned to the kitchen, and now Michael and his friends weren't there. She grabbed a snack from the pantry and noticed that a commercial started to play on the tv for the new Ella Doll.

"Oh Ella," she says, infatuated with the doll, "why won't Mummy let me have one?"

She actually did know why, but it wasn't very good reasoning.

Last semester, Elizabeth had received a C for spelling since she spelt everything the British way, thanks to her father and grandparents. As a punishment, her mother decided that Elizabeth would not be getting an Ella Doll for her birthday, despite her pleas, and William's attempts to get her to see reason. Lora hadn't seen reason, and instead doubled down, grounding Elizabeth for two weeks. Despite her fathers efforts, Lora had continued with these harsh punishments against Elizabeth. 

"Michael what did you do!?" Billy asks loudly.

"Shh! My Mum will hear you."

"Let's blame it on Little Lizzy!" Darren suggests.

"Good idea," says Jon.

"MUM!" Michael yells to his mother, who is upstairs watching the soaps on the tv.

"What!" she yells back.

"Elizabeth broke the vase!"

"I did not!" Elizabeth yells, trying to defend herself.

"That's it you brat!" Lora begins to stomp down the stairs, and Elizabeth considers running to her father. Her father always makes everything better. 

"Get over here!"

Elizabeth began running to the garage, but it was no use. Her mother grabbed her left arm with such force that she thought she broke it. The anger in her mothers eyes was a new kind of frightening. (More frightening than William's eyes when he kills kids but he doesn't do that in this timeline lol). Lora's burning green eyes, which perfectly matched her daughters, stared deeply into Elizabeth's soul, as if she was going to exorcise her from her own body. She dragged Elizabeth towards where the broken vase was, and threw her onto the ground next to it.

"Clean it up in five minutes or you're not having your party."

Elizabeth had hit the ground with such force that she began to cry. ' _Surely this isn't Mummy. She would never do this, right?"_ she thought to herself, over and over as she began to clean up the vase. A hard force pushed through her left side, and she fell towards the wall. Her mother had kicked her.

"And stop crying you annoying fucker."

Everything was coming together perfectly. 

William was exhausted though, he and Henry had stayed up all night working on getting Freddy's ready for Elizabeth's birthday. Getting the Puppet set up in time, putting up the decorations, and programming a new song into the animatronics had worn the two of them out, but they had done it. Even if they only got three hours of sleep afterwards. Vanessa had brought Charlie and Sammy at eight a.m. to help set everything out on the tables, and so that Vanessa could inform Matt that the kids found him more scary than the Puppet.

"I'm not that scary!" Matt refuted. His perfect hair and giant, shining white teeth begged to differ.

"Yeah, you are."

As they worked on the finishing touches to the modified Pirate Cove Show, William pulled Henry aside into Parts and Services.

"So, you know how Lora doesn't want Elizabeth having an Ella Doll," William explains to his faithful business partner.

"Will, don't tell me that you got her one."

"I did, and I'm going to put it in the Puppet's box so it just seems like a random gift. And besides, Lora isn't going to take it away from her in front of the entire party."

"I don't understand why you don't stand up to her and show her how much of a bitch she's being."

"Hey! I will not have you talk about my wife that way."

"Will, you're my best friend. Look around, Lora isn't treating you well. None of this should be happening."

"Henry, I understand your concern but everything is okay. Lora just has a different way of parenting, that's all."

"Will, I haven't spent over a million dollars on charities for fighting domestic abuse just to watch my best friend fall victim to it."

"Woah! That's not what this is at all. Henry, look I get it, you're worried, but you shouldn't be. I can handle myself."

"Okay, but if you have any problems you know you can trust me."

"I know."

"Now about that Mr. Hippo idea..."

"I'm not helping you build Mr. Hippo."

Lora arrived at noon with Elizabeth, Michael, and Lucas. 

"I don't understand why I have to come to this stupid party!" Michael groans, "Freddy's is for babies!"

"I don't like it just as much as you do, but we can't cancel the party Michael. Henry and your father have spent all week on this party and I just know your Dad will get Henry and Vanessa to lecture me like he did when I cancelled last years party," his mother responds. She's wearing large black sunglasses that compliment her bright blonde hair.

It pained Elizabeth to listen to this. Her own Mother talking about how she couldn't stand going to her own daughters birthday party. That she'd cancel it if she didn't have to deal with the backlash from others. What kind of parent was she? Elizabeth didn't know much about what parents should be, she had really only witnessed her mother and father's parenting, but she knew it shouldn't be this. Lucas clutched his Fredbear plush harder, and seemed like he would cry. Then Michael punched Elizabeth in her shoulder as hard as he could. She let out a screech.

"This is your fault. I could be at home playing video games but no, I have to go to your birthday party!"

"Stop," Lucas says, on the verge of tears.

"Fuck you," Michael responds slapping Lucas upside the head.

"Ow!" he cries.

"Want me to do it again?"

"No.. no.."

"Then stop crying."

Lora laughed.

"I'm telling you William, Tax evasion. It's so easy."

"Thanks Matt... oh look here's the birthday girl!" William says, walking over to his now eight year old daughter.

"Daddy!"

"How's my princess doing?" he asks, picking her up to give her a large hug.

"I can't wait for the party!"

"Well that's good, because your friends should be arriving soon. Why don't you go play with Charlie while we wait."

"Charlie!" Elizabeth yelled, jumping out of her fathers arms to greet her friend. Charlie wraps Elizabeth into a big hug.

"Ow."

"Oh I'm sorry."

"No it's not you, my shoulder just, hurts."

"Oh, did you hurt it?"

"Something like that..." Elizabeth lies, now on the verge of tears. 

"Well, why don't you come to the carousel with me."

"Okay," Elizabeth responds, hoping the carousel can help her forget what happened.

Slowly, her friends started to trickle in. First Carlton, then John, then Jessica, then Lamar, Marla and others. Uncle Cooper, Charlie's Aunt Jen, and others. Soon, Elizabeth forgot all about her prior encounter with her family, and began thinking bigger. Presents.

Around four p.m. Henry called everyone into the main dining area, where he revealed to the children that they were going to test out a very special animatronic, named the Puppet. All they needed to do was to have Elizabeth get a gift from it, but the kids were also going to get their party favors from the Puppet. Now why exactly did Henry think this was a good idea? I've got no clue. Vanessa, who instead of wearing her typical outfit of a turtleneck sweater, was now wearing a Freddy's uniform and had her long brown hair in a bun.

"Everyone," Vanessa says enthusiastically to the children, "now is time for the first ever on the field test of the puppet. Which you can now buy plushes for!"

"Typical Vanessa," Henry mutters.

"What was that Henry?"

"I love you dear."

"Yeah I don't think that's what you said. Any who, Elizabeth, why don't you come up and get your gift."

Elizabeth got up from her seat and walked excitedly towards the large box at the Prize Corner. Standing next to it, was Matt.

"Daddy, Matt scares me," Elizabeth says.

"Matt you're fired."

"You can't fire me. I'll come back. _I ALWAYS COME BACK"_

"Go on Elizabeth, get your present," Charlie encourages from the audience of eight year olds. Elizabeth had the latest birthday out of all of them. September 29th, 2003. She almost missed the deadline for being able to be in Charlie's grade by just a one day. Luckily for both her and Charlie, she didn't.

The blonde looked up at the box as Matt pulled the lever to activate the Puppet. The top of the box opened, and the tall, slender, black and white striped animatronic with a terrifying tear stained mask emerged from the box, holding a present. Elizabeth's eyes lit up as the Puppet lowered its arms with the box in its hand. 

"Merry Christmas!" Matt screams.

"Matt..."

"Sorry Mr. Emily, I thought it would be funny."

"Take the present!" Jessica shouts from the audience.

Elizabeth reaches out and grabs the white boxed red ribboned present from the terrifying Puppet's hands. She turned around and got down on her knees to open the box in front of her friends, family, and the employees William and Henry forced to work that day. As she began to untie the ribbon, William's grey eyes began to turn towards his wife, Lora, who still was not on to him.

"Reminder folks," Vanessa says, "that the present the children receives is randomly picked by a computer built into the Puppet's box. The present comes from the Prize Corner so if it's not on the prize list then it can't be found in the box."

 _"She's in on it as well then."_ William thought to himself. If not, then this was a moment of pure coincidence that still, would hopefully work out in his favor.

As Elizabeth tore off the ribbon, Michael grew restless. " _What if she got a Plushtrap Chaser, or Lonely Freddy, or a Fredbear Plush?"_ Michael became angry at the thought that his sister could potentially get something rare from the Puppet's present. It was bad enough Lucas had a Fredbear plush, the last thing he needed was both of his siblings having something rare, when he himself had nothing. Of course, he knew that if his friends knew he was having this internal dilemma they'd make fun of him. Michael's friends viewed Freddy's as a place for babies, and mocked and ridiculed anything from it, or any fan of it. He had to hide his Foxy figurine collection every-time they came over, and his semi-rare Yarg Foxy.

As these thoughts of doubt ran through Michael's head, Elizabeth removed the lid of the box. Inside, laid the only thing she wanted.

An Ella Doll.

"What is it?" Charlie asks her best friend, hoping it's something that she actually wants. 

"An... Ella Doll," she says slowly, and softly, with a tremendous wave of happiness consuming her.

Everyone in the crowd, kids, grown-ups, and employees alike looked at each-other. Either they all knew that Elizabeth wasn't allowed to have one, or they were confused what the hell an Ella Doll was doing at Freddy's prize corner. 

"William," Lora began, her voice filled with anger and betrayal, "can I talk to you in the security office?"

As the two Afton parents exited the dining area, Charlie and the other kids joined Elizabeth in the Prize Corner to look at her new present. The Ella Doll itself wasn't too spectacular, but every little girl was obsessed with getting one, and both Marla and Jessica didn't have one. Susie had one though, and of course Cassidy had one. Why wouldn't the spoiled brat have one? 

"It's more beautiful than I have ever imagined," Elizabeth begins, "isn't she just wonderful Daddy. Daddy?"

"Your parents are in the Security Office having a, discussion," Vanessa explains to the confused girl. 

"Oh well, I'll show her to him later."

"Henry, could you go tell those two that she's about to open the rest of the gifts."

"Yep, by the way Puppet's a success so, I was right," Henry brags as he begins to make his way towards the Security Office. As he approaches the window, he stops himself. 

"You directly defied our agreement Will."

"Lora, this whole ban on the Ella Doll is absolutely outrageous and you know it. She got a C. Let the girl have the damn doll if she wants it."

"We'll continue this discussion at home!" With that, Lora angrily stomped out of the security office and back to the dining area, on the right side of the office, opposite of where Henry was listening.

"Henry, I know you're out there," William reveals.

"Okay, you got me," Henry responds, walking into the Security Office with his hands up.

"So, how much did you hear?"

"Not much."

"It actually went better than I expected. She didn't have a public freakout, which was nice."

"If you're wondering why I came here, 'Ness sent me in here to tell you two that 'Liz is going to open the rest of her presents."

"Well then, I wouldn't want to miss that."

As Henry and William returned, Vanessa called everyones attention to her.

"Okay everyone, it's time for Elizabeth to open the rest of the presents you all got for her, so Matt and Jen, would you two be so kind as to move the presents to where Elizabeth is sitting."

"Aye aye captain!" Matt answers, before moving to grab some of Elizabeth's presents.

"Don't call me that."

Each of Elizabeth's presents were more unique than the last. First, she got a new pair of shoes, and then a book about the history of beans from Matt. Carlton got her a book to help her deal with the differences between the British and American spellings of words (although she almost got the hang of it). Henry had given her a whole box of unreleased Fazbear merchandise which certainly angered the already extremely jealous Michael. 

With the last of the presents opened, and Matt eating the last two pizzas (don't ask me how he did it), children started to go home. Soon, only the Emily's, Afton's, and Jessica remained. They sat in a circle in front of Pirates Cove with the Ella Doll at the center. 

"You know, I bet that with a little tinkering, your Dads could build a doll a thousand times better than Ella and because we know the creators, we could them for free."

Jessica's scheme seemed promising to the two girls, but Charlie doubted that it would become reality. Her father rarely made toys not related to the Fazbear Franchise, and none of its characters worked as dolls. William had never worked on any of the toys Fazbear Entertainment put out, although it is likely that he had some part in the creation of the Plushtrap Chaser because it borrowed the programming of Funtime Foxy for certain aspects. 

"Or we could do it," Elizabeth pitches, "one day, when we're older, we could make the greatest doll this world has ever seen!" 

"Yeah. And we could sell it right here in the Prize Corner," Charlie continues, pointing at the Prize Corner, which sat on the opposite side of the dining area.

"Elizabeth!" Lora screams, "come on we're leaving."

"See you guys at school on Monday," Elizabeth tells her friends, picking up her Ella doll and walking towards the entrance of the restaurant. Her mothers stood to the left of the open glass door, ushering for Elizabeth to exit the building and get in the car. Fast. 

The entire Afton family piled up in the car, including William this time. He had carefully loaded Elizabeth's presents into the trunk of the small SUV to ensure that nothing would fall or break, and that everything could fit inside. He succeeded, but his family didn't seem to notice.

"So Elizabeth, did you have a good birthday?" William asks his daughter as he starts the car.

"The greatest birthday ever!" she answers, holding her Ella doll tightly. 

Michael sat in the seat farthest to the right, head leaning against the door tired. Tired, but angry. Elizabeth had gotten the birthday he always wanted, and still wanted. Why did she get what she wanted? Why had he been screwed over? It all seemed unfair to Mike, but he couldn't admit it. That would show weakness and immaturity. Something he could not show around his younger siblings.

Elizabeth sat farthest to the left, and similar to her older brother, leaned her head against the door, exhausted after such a splendrous birthday. Lucas sat in the middle, and began to doze off, leaning his head on Elizabeth's right shoulder. Unlike the Emily's who had lived only a few minutes from Freddy's, the Aftons lived fifteen minutes away.

"I'm sill made at you," Lora says to her husband angrily. 

"Lora, can't you see reason? Your reasoning was just quite blatantly unfair and I'm sorry dear but I cannot sit here and let you treat our daughter like this."

"Excuse me? I still let her have that damn party despite having both broken the flower vase and put a hole in the wall."

Both of which had actually been Michael.

"Yes, I understand that those things were wrong, but did you ever take a moment to consider that they may have been accidents?"

"Will, that girl doesn't do accidents. Everything she does is intentional."

"Maybe Henry was right..."

"Oh what did Henry say about me now?"

Elizabeth dozed off before she could hear anything more.

"ELIZABETH!"

The eight year old was awoken by the sounds of her mother screaming. She turned to look at her wall clock, nine a.m. She had never slept in before. Must have been because of how late she stayed at Freddy's she assumed.

"Why are you still sleeping?" her mother asks angrily, entering her bedroom. 

"I'm not anymore."

"Don't be a smart ass! The upstairs bathroom is clogged, go unclog it!"

Elizabeth had gone to deal with the bathroom situation so quickly, she hadn't realized that her Ella Doll was missing.


	2. Story 2: Class President

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth hatches the perfect plan to get back at Cassidy Reynolds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a long one.

"My Dad owns a motorcycle!" Jeremy Fitzgerald Jr. bragged to the class.

"And our Mom has a drone!" his twin sister Susie continued, hoping to lift the Fitzgerald's popularity.

"My Dad owns a restaurant," Charlie reminded, “three actually. Soon to be four.”

"My Mom has TWO boyfriends," Kenny announced, "I bet none of your parents have two boyfriends."

"Okay, that's enough!" Ms. Merriweather shouted, stopping the conversation before it could get worse. She stood up from her desk, setting down her novel realizing that she would actually have to teach.

It was Halloween, and a Friday afternoon in a fifth grade class. Everyone in the class jittered with excitement, ready for the hours of trick-or-treating that awaited them when they got home.Elizabeth couldn't go trick-or-treating however. A punishment for getting into a fight with the Mayor's daughter, Cassidy Reynolds. Now normally, that would be a just punishment...

But I haven't introduced you to the character of Cassidy Reynolds yet. 

"Well, we only have half an hour of class left, so why don't we do a few of the problems on the homework to make sure you're all comfortable with the subject matter. I understand that long division can be hard. So everyone pull out your homework. Yes Jeremy Jr. even you."

Charlie glanced at her best friend, because they both already knew long division. Henry had ensured that both girls were properly educated because as he put it...

"Public school is nothing but indoctrination from the federal government. There's nothing in a school that I can't teach you twice as fast."

The man has three PhDs are you really going to doubt that? 

"Okay, so we have 844, and we need to divide it by four. So does anyone here know how we can do that?"

"It's 211 you don't even have to do long division," Charlie muttered.

"Smart ass has an answer!" Cassidy announced, pointing at Charlie.

"Cassidy, what did we say about using that kind of language in my classroom? Apologize to Charlotte this instant."

"I'm sorry," Cassidy told the brunette in defeat, before whispering, "smart ass."

"Hey!" Elizabeth shouted.

"Elizabeth!"

"She just said it again!" 

"Miss Reynolds is this true?"

"No."

"It's true!" Susie Fitzgerald protested, "she said it."

"That's it. Cassidy, I'm sorry but if you're going to be such a troublemaker I'm going to have to send you down to the office... KENNY THE FISH TANK IS NOT A WATER FOUNTAIN!"

Ms. Merriweather forgot about Cassidy within moments, and ran over to stop Kenny from drinking all of the fish from the tank. This angered Elizabeth, who decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Why are you such a bully?" Elizabeth asked the spoiled brat, "why do you feel the need to do this?"

"You know what you sound like, you sound like a guidance counselor." 

"YOU ATE TERRANCE! That's it I'm taking you to the Principal's Office young man. Cassidy you're in charge."

Cassidy, being the Class President, was always in charge of the classroom whenever Ms. Merriweather left. It was standard procedure in the school, and was the only important function of the Class President other than getting a special section of the yearbook and a pizza party at the end of the year. 

"So, Susie. What are you going to be for Halloween?" Cassidy asked the blonde.

"I'm going to be Black Widow!"

"Cool. What about you Elizabeth? Oh wait..." Cassidy mocked, "you can't go trick-or-treating."

"Because of you!" Jessica shouted.

"What? Me? But I'm innocent."

"Yeah. Okay."

"I am! She hit me first."

"Because you kicked Carlton."

"He called me spoiled."

"Because you are!"

"Whatever. I'm in charge and I'm telling you to stop talking," Cassidy ordered, mad with power.

Everyone in the class minus Cassidy's friends and admirers groaned. 

"My Mom's taking me to a Justin Bieber concert next summer," Amelia gloated to her friends.

"Omg, lucky!" Cassidy replied, "I've always wanted to go to one of his concerts."

"Justin Bieber so is overrated," Charlie said in response.

"At least I don't like Nickelback."

"Hey!"

"She likes Nickelback?" Zeke asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Cassidy answered.

"That's it!" Elizabeth declared standing up.

"Oh wow, someone angered the brit. Gonna call me a bloke?"

"Bitch!" Elizabeth yelled, slapping Cassidy across the face.

"Holy..."

"Elizabeth Robin Afton!" a loud elderly voice yelled from the hallway of the small elementary school, "Principals Office this instant!"

It was Ms. Furubotten, the oldest, meanest teacher at the school. She had been put on teaching parole for slapping a student, but they couldn't fire her because five years were still left on her contract. She entered the classroom and grabbed Elizabeth by her arm, dragging her off to the Principal's Office.

"That was easier than I thought it would be," Cassidy laughed.

Ms. Furubotten's cold, wrinkly hands continued to pull on Elizabeth's left arm as they passed each of the schools classrooms. With only ten minutes left of the school-day, Elizabeth didn't understand the point of going to the Principal's Office, but Ms. Furubotten did. 

The waiting room was empty, which was both good and terrifying. On the one hand, no one to be embarrassed in front of, but on the other, no witnesses. 

"Sit," Ms. Furubotten snarled to her, pushing her into a chair. She disappeared behind the Principal's door in a flash. For an old woman she sure knew how to move. 

"Okay Kenny, go back to class. And if you eat another fish we are going to have to punish you."

"I know Mrs. Schneider."

"Next."

Elizabeth stood up and progressed slowly to the office. She knew what she had done was wrong, but she was still dreading the punishment. 

The olive walls of the office were filled with pictures of past Principals and school awards. In the center, a large chestnut desk sat, covered with pictures of children and school events, with Mrs. Schneider sitting behind it. The 44 year-old woman's hair was already turning grey. 

"Elizabeth. Ms. Furubotten here just told me that you not only used an inappropriate word in class, but that you slapped another student. Is this true?"

"She was being mean to Charlie."

"Yes I understand that dear, but is is right to hit students?"

"No."

"I've already informed your parents about this, and your mother is on her way to collect you. While the school won't be issuing you a punishment, I can't say the same about your parents."

"Yes Mrs. Schneider."

"Now go sit in the waiting room and wait for your mother."

Lora Afton wasn't in the mood to deal with a troublesome child that day. A toddler at the soup kitchen had spilled beans all over her new boots, and coupled with Utah's coldest halloween on record at a staggering seventeen degrees fahrenheit, she was angry. 

Her long black winter jacket with fur accents was hardly keeping her warm, and she was now regretting not wearing a sweatshirt that day. Her Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (yes she's one of those people) providing minimal warmth.

When she entered the school and saw Elizabeth sitting in the waiting room of the Principal's Office, she knew she had ammunition. Something she could use against Elizabeth for at least a few weeks. "Perfect" she though.

Elizabeth hadn't notice her mother enter the school, and at first she didn't even think that it was her mother. She was wearing large sunglasses as she usually did, but they were new. The jacket was as well, and her hair was in curls which was something her mother hardly ever did, but today apparently she did. 

"Wow," Lora said to her daughter, "twice in one week."

"Go get your stuff and then get in the car. We'll talk about this at home."

"Okay, so I know you're all excited about this new restaurant and all, but what exactly does that thing do?"

"Oh that, that's Music Man."

"Why? Why did you build it?"

"Because, it's a man that plays music."

"Henry, I am starting to question your sanity." 

"Okay fine, Music Man is a no. What about this?"

"Henry, we're not putting a Mexican Beaver in the restaurant either."

"Come on 'Ness, I put a lot of work into his design. Look, he can sing."

"He's holding a guitar I would hope so."

"It's a mandolin actually."

"Does it really matter?"

"No, not really."

"Mom!" Charlie yelled from the front door of the house.

"In the garage sweetie!" Vanessa called to her daughter. Within seconds, Charlie had run into the garage but was stopped in her tracks by the Music Man.

"What... what's that?"

"It's Music Man," Henry explained to his daughter.

"But why is he so scary?"

"That's what I asked."

"So Charlie," Henry began, in hopes of changing the subject, "how was school today."

"We started long division today."

"I'm hoping you already know how to do it."

"Of course I do, you taught me after all. Of yeah, and Elizabeth got sent to the Principal's Office today."

"What!?" Vanessa said, "again?"

"What did she do?" Henry asked.

"She slapped Cassidy Reynolds."

"Why?"

"She was saying mean things to other students so Elizabeth stood up to them."

Charlie didn't want to worry her parents so she left out the part where she was on the receiving end of most of the bullying.

"On Monday they were beating eachother up under the monkey bars and today she's bullying and she's slapping. I'm going to talk to Will about this," Henry said, "maybe we can get to the bottom of this."

"I'm going to go make Sammy a snack."

"What the hell has gotten into you Elizabeth? I knew you were a troublemaker but not this bad."

"She was making fun of Charlie."

"Usually, when someones being made fun of, it's because they deserve it."

"Mom, that's not how it works..."

"Now you're talking back to me Elizabeth? You know what, here's your punishment."

Lora's hand moved swiftly across Elizabeth's face, her long nails sinking into her daughter's cheeks. Instead of slapping, Lora had scratched her daughter's face. Tears filled the young girls eyes as Lora smiled.

"That, is what Cassidy felt like." 

"I.. I think I'm bleeding," Elizabeth cried, touching her face. The tips of her fingers soaked with the blood from her face.

"You are. Clean yourself up," Lora barked, before exiting the kitchen. A mixture of blood and tears ran down Elizabeth's face, creating a puddle on the floor. Her face stung.

"What the hell happened in here?" Mike asked, entering the kitchen with Darren.

"Please just leave," Elizabeth pleaded quietly.

"Come on Darren, let's go upstairs," Michael said to his friend, grabbing his arm and ushering him upstairs quickly

"Jesus now you have blood on the floor!" Lora screamed reentering the kitchen.

"Mom, please just stop."

"Clean up the fucking floor!" her mother screeched.

Elizabeth walked towards the cabinet that contained all of the cleaning supplies.

"How do I clean up blood?"

"Look it up."

William had spent the entire day overseeing the plans for the Salt Lake City Freddy's, which was being constructed by one of Henry's friends Steven, who lived up there. Henry had planned on taking a summer trip up to Salt Lake City with his family in August, but Steven had assured Henry that everything was under control. The restaurant was nearly finished, and only needed the robots. Five brand new machines, the toy series of animatronics had been created to ensure that the Salt Lake City Freddy's turned a large profit, and built the Freddy's brand larger than before. 

Lora hadn't made anything for dinner, because she had taken Lucas trick-or-treating. William decided to take matters into his own hands and began to make his family ravioli because that's something that William can do now. 

Elizabeth sat on her bed, holding her Circus Baby plush, staring at the ceiling. Her mother had grounded her for two weeks on top of not being allowed to trick-or-treat and the... incident. She had completed her long division homework in less than ten minutes and now had nothing to do, and no distraction. Her halloween costume hung on her closet door knob, taunting her. She and Charlie had planned matching costumes. Circus Baby and the Puppet, but now that was all ruined. 

She had covered her face in bandages, and had a feeling that it would scar. 

"Dinner!" her father called. Elizabeth slowly walked downstairs and towards the kitchen, dreading confrontation with her mother.

As the Afton family filled their plates with both ravioli and a quick salad that William had forced Michael to put together, William noticed the bandages on Elizabeth's face.

"What happened to you?" William asked his daughter concerned.

"She had an accident on the playground," Lora lied, hiding the truth from her husband.

"Uh-yeah. I wasn't look where I was going and I-uh fell."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, it hurts."

Lora smiled.

When Elizabeth returned to school on Monday, she was immediately greeted by Mrs. Furubotten, who led her into the Principal's Office. Two chairs sat across from Mrs. Schneider's desk. Sitting in one of those two seats was Cassidy. Elizabeth was not so gently guided into the second seat. Ms. Merriweather entered the room. 

"Elizabeth, Cassidy. We understand that you have had a somewhat rough week last week, but this is a new week, and we want you two to make amends."

Mrs. Schneider's hair seemed to have become more grey between Friday and Monday. Her green necklace stood out against her purple sweater.

She's the Principal Behind the Slaughter

"And to begin with this path of forgiveness, I want you two to apologize to each other."

Cassidy groaned.

"Cassidy. We cannot make amends if you're going to act like this."

"I'm sorry I said those mean things Elizabeth," Cassidy mumbled in defeat.

"And I'm sorry I slapped you."

"There we go. Now, I want to see you two being nice to each other this week. One report of fighting and I'm going to have to punish you two."

As if Elizabeth needed any more punishments. 

"And remember everyone that on Friday we are holding the 73rd annual Class President Election this Friday, so make campaign posters by tomorrow in order to be eligible for the election," Vice Principal Kyter announced over the intercom.

With that, the morning announcements came to a close. Ms. Merriweather stood up from her desk to review the classes long division homework. Then, Cassidy raised her hand.

"Yes Cassidy?"

"I would just like to announce that I'm running for Class President again and I'm hoping for all your support."

That's when Elizabeth hatched a plan. The most devious of plans. 

Cassidy lived a privileged life. She had all of the hottest items before anyone else, she saw movies on opening day. She was a bully. The only way to get back at someone like Cassidy would be to take something from them. Something they cared about, or more importantly, something that made them 'better' than everyone else. 

She had hatched the perfect plan, one that would not only get revenge on Cassidy in the short term, but one that would affect her for the rest of the year.

All she needed was a little help.

"That's fascinating, now can we get to reviewing the homework?"

"I'm also running!" Elizabeth blurted out.

Cassidy turned to her angrily and sneered, "of course you are. You so jealous of me that you just have to try to take MY spot it work Elizabeth! I'm more popular than you."

"Cassidy, what did we talk about this morning?" 

"I don't care! She's just jealous of me!"

"Cassidy, anyone can run for class president."

"I know, but Elizabeth Afton?"

"She is right Elizabeth, this does seem offly convenient that you decide to run just minutes after our little conversation."

The entire class laughed.

"It has nothing to do with that."

"Well then, looks like this years election will be a little more exciting. Now let's review that homework shall we?"

"I've got your whole campaign planned out," Charlie, the newly appointed campaign manager said to the group of friends as they walked out to the playground "we've got a whole stack of coupons for Freddy's that we could bribe the class with. Oh. Or we could bribe them with candy."

"Halloween was just a few days ago," John pointed out.

"Coupons it is."

"What will your poster look like?" Marla asked.

"I don't know."

"We'll probably work on that after school," Charlie answered.

"I'm still grounded," Elizabeth reminded her best friend. 

"Oh yeah. I guess you'll have to do it yourself then. Don't worry, I know you can do it."

"Hey look, it's Little Lizzy!"

Cassidy and her two friends Amelia & Sydney marched over to the group of aspiring politicians. 

"You're going to lose horribly. You're going to embarrass yourself. So why do this?" Cassidy asked her new political rival.

"Because someone needs to stand up to you and if it has to be me than so be it."

"I'm the bully? You're the one who slapped me. You're the one who started the fight."

"And picking on people isn't bullying?"

"No that's funny."

"Go away Cassidy!" Marla barked. Marla knew karate.

"You're not even in our class."

"Doesn't matter, I'll still kick your butt."

"Well Have fun getting embarrassed. And nice face by the way," Cassidy mocked, leading her friends away. 

“Don’t listen to her,” Charlie said to her best friend, hoping to distill any doubts she had.

“I’m going to beat her. I’m going to crush her. I’m going to take everything she has.”

“Woah,” Lamar said.

“She deserves what’s coming to her,” Elizabeth said as justification for her previous statement.

“I think it will be funny.”

“Because it will be.”

When Elizabeth arrived home from school, she prepared herself a snack consisting of some apple slices and peanut butter (because her Mom didn’t let her have junk food) and rushed up to her room to work on her campaign posters. The Hurricane Elementary School had a rule that you had to have a campaign poster to be eligible to run for Class President, and Elizabeth hoped to out number Cassidy three to one when it came to advertising.

“Advertising…” Elizabeth said to herself.

She knew exactly who to call.

Lora wouldn’t be home until six, and William later. Michael was at Darren’s house and Lucas was at daycare. No one could stop Elizabeth from using the phone.

It was very irresponsible for Lora to leave her fifth grader home alone, but she would rather do whatever it is a Lora does than watch over the daughter she doesn’t care about.

Elizabeth walked into the hallway. The upstairs hallway had a landline on a small table in between Michael’s room and the Master Bedroom doors. The black and silver phone had buttons that glowed green, which allowed the Afton’s to know where they were when they were walking around the house at night. Elizabeth slowly pressed the glowing green buttons. She hoped to god she remembered the phone number right (435)-555-1983.

“Hello?” a female voice asked from the otherwise of the phone.

“Is this Vanessa Emily?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes it is… wait Elizabeth is that you? I thought you were grounded.”

“I am, but I need your help for a school project.”

“Well then, if it’s for a project I guess I can let it slide. What do you need?”

“How do you make the advertisements for Freddy’s?”

“Well, the most important thing is knowing your audience. For example, most people who read newspapers are adults, so the advertisements we have in the newspaper are how affordable our parties are. Because the parents are the ones paying. When we’re doing ads on the local kids channel, we always advertise our characters. How fun it is, things like that. When we’re advertising our characters, we focus test which characters are the most popular. For example, Foxy and Circus Baby are our two most popular characters so we advertise them the most.”

“I see.”

“And we always have some kind of enticement. For example, the Puppet was a great way to convince parents to buy our Gold Package, and we always have deals going on to entice parents to buy our more expensive birthday packages. And of course Freddy’s isn’t all birthdays, so we have to make sure that our food stays affordable as well. And of course, new animatronics are the Hail Mary when business is slow.”

“So, what kind of project is this for exactly.”

“It’s for history. We have to create a poster for president, and the best one wins, and I need to make sure mine is the best,” Elizabeth lied. If Vanessa learned that this wasn’t for a project, she would jeopardize everything.

“Political Propaganda, I see. Well that’s more fun. It’s all about the short term when running for public office. Make promises, whether or not you can keep them. Rile the people up, tell them what they want to hear. Make them angry, and blame all their problems on your opponent. Especially if your opponent is the incumbent.”

“Incumbent?”

“That’s a fancy word for someone who’s already serving office.”

“I see, so Cassidy Reynolds would be the incumbent Class President?”

“Yes, she is. And President Obama is the incumbent president, and Gary Herbert is the incumbent governor, and Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee are our two incumbent senators. Oh actually this reminds me, always sound smarter than your opponent, but never too confusing. So go grab a Thesaurus and look for more educated, but understandable alternatives to words you use everyday. This will also future proof you for when you need to upgrade your vocabulary in the upcoming middle school years.”

“Thanks Mrs. Emily.”

“Anytime Elizabeth. You know I’m always here for you.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Elizabeth had spent two hours working on six different types of posters. Using the family computer she found an older poster of Uncle Sam asking young men to enlist, which she parodied. Elizabeth had always been good at drawing, and six fully hand drawn posters would surely get the class’s attention.

Lora arrived home with Lucas and Michael soon after Elizabeth finished with her posters. Lora had brought home pizza from Pizza Hut, but she had brought home Hawaiian Pizza and Meat Lovers. Elizabeth hated both of the flavors, but Michael and Lora both loved them.

Elizabeth looked at the Hawaiian Pizza disgusted when her mother turned to her to speak.

“Oh you don’t like Hawaiian Pizza. Well there’s always Meat Lover… oh wait. Well, guess you’re going hungry tonight,” Lora laughed, putting a slice of each onto her plate.

“You know I don’t like them.”

“I do, but I don’t care.”

“I’m going to go finish my homework,” Elizabeth announced, storming out of the dining room.

"Good. More for us!” Michael snickered.

Elizabeth was laying in her bed reading when her Mother stormed into the room.

“Explain to me what you were doing on the phone earlier while you are GROUNDED!”

“What?”

“I just got off the phone with Vanessa and she said that you called her earlier.”

“It was for a school project!” Elizabeth answered the question she was at the beginning, trying to mount a case.

“I don’t care! A grounding is a grounding!” Lora yelled at her daughter. A malicious tone to her voice.

“I’m sorry! I needed help!” Elizabeth shouted, holding back tears.

“Maybe if you weren’t so dumb you wouldn’t need help you fucking dumbass. Why can’t you be more like Michael!?”

Elizabeth could feel Michael’s evil smile burning through the wall. Lora turned her attention to the drawings on Elizabeth’s desk.

“What are those?”

“They’re my posters for Class President!”

"Class President? Who would want to vote for you? The special ed kid? Please not even Charlotte would vote for you.”

“That’s a lie!” Elizabeth cried, now unable to hold back tears, “she’s my best friend. She’s my campaign manager!”

“Please Elizabeth, I can’t believe you’re that dumb. It’s just a ruse. All of it. Charlotte isn’t your friend. You have no friends!”

“That’s, that’s not…”

“Well, I guess you won’t need these posters.”

Lora grabbed three of the six posters and tore them a in half.

“Just trying to save you from embarrassment,” with that, Lora left the room, still holding the torn posters in her hands.

That was the second time she had heard that that day, and it didn’t sting any less.

“It’s okay,” Elizabeth reassured herself, holding her Circus Baby plush tightly. She had to hide it from her Mother. She didn’t want to risk her mother getting her hands on it.

“I still have three more posters.”

“Dear!” William yelled to his wife from downstairs.

“Yes?” Lora called back.

“Why is ‘how to clean up blood’ in our computers search history?”

“I don’t know,” Lora replied.

She was lying. She knew exactly why. She watched Elizabeth search it up on Friday.

Lora went downstairs to conversation with William, and Elizabeth could no longer hear them talk. She had more important matters to focus on anyways. She had to remake three posters by her bedtime.

“These look amazing!” Charlie exclaimed, holding the five campaign posters in her hands, “did you draw these all on your own?”

“I did! I even asked your Mom for some advice on how to make them.”

“Yeah, she told me about that. Something about a history project. I was so confused but I figured it was for this and I didn’t understand the project part.”

“It was so I could use the phone while grounded.”

“Clever! That’s the kind of smart thinking we need to have as our Class President.”

“That’s something your Mom suggested.”

“Come on, let’s be the first ones to hang posters up,” Charlie suggested, standing up.

“Okay,” Elizabeth answered.

“Charlie,” Elizabeth began, “are you going to vote for me?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I.”

“It’s just that my, uh…”

“Don’t let Cassidy get to you Liz, she’s just trying to keep you from running because she’s afraid she’s going to lose you.”

“You’re right, come on the bulletin board over there is the perfect place for the Auntie Liz poster.”

It didn’t take long for the two to hang up all five of the posters. And with twenty minutes left before class started.

“If these don’t get voters, none of Cassidy’s will either.”

“What was that?”

Cassidy Reynolds and Amelia Sky stood in the doorway of the near empty classroom, with only a few other students inside the classroom.

“Nothing.”

“Nice work with the posters, I must say you’re going all out. Will only make your defeat more satisfying.”

“Do you always have to talk like a supervillain?” Charlie asked angrily.

“Only when I’m angry.”

“So you’re always angry?”

“Pretty much so.”

“Go hang up your posters Cassidy.”

“Fine.”

“I see our aspiring politicians are up bright and early getting their posters up. An hour before the deadline two, I’m proud of both of you for taking this seriously,” Ms. Merriweather said to the class as she entered the classroom, “Aunt Liz wants you now that’s a new take on the Uncle Sam poster.”

“Thanks.”

Elizabeth, Charlie, and the others worked hard but they managed to raise Elizabeth’s public approval within the classroom to a point where Elizabeth had a real chance of winning.

Friday came quickly, and with that, voting. Everyone in the class lined up to vote. Privately of course. The entire class was beaming with anticipation for the results.

“Attention students of Hurricane Elementary, now is the time that teachers are to announce election results. Please adjust lesson plans accordingly.”

“Oh thank god,” Elizabeth said, a cloud of excitement and dread finally abandoning her to torment another poor soul. Hopefully far from Utah.

“Well class, while I count these votes, do your reading assignment.”

Elizabeth opened her book, but could hardly focus. The entire class couldn’t focus on their reading. Everyone except for Cassidy, who was so sure that she would win that she didn’t even care about the election anymore. Charlie flashed her a wink. They were going to win.

_“We better.”_

“Okay, I’m done!” Ms. Merriweather announced, “is it weird that I’m just as excited as you are?”

“Yes,” Jeremy Jr. answered.

“I wasn’t actually wanting an answer Jeremy.”

“Well you got one.”

She sighed.

“And the winner is….”

“Mitt Romney!” Kenny yelled.

“No not Mitt Romney!”

“The winner is….”

“Al Gore!”

“No not Al Gore Kenny!”

“The winner is…”

“JIMMY CARTER!”

“PRINCIPALS OFFICE KENNY!”

“Fine,” Kenny muttered walking out of the classroom.

“Okay, and the winner is….”

“Elizabeth.”

“Oh thank god,” Elizabeth said to herself. Charlie, Carlton, Jessica, and Susie all started to celebrate.

Cassidy’s reaction could be described with one word.

**Horror.**

Her position had been usurped by Elizabeth, and by such a devastating number. She lost 15-6. Elizabeth only looked for a moment, only a moment, but in that moment she looked it almost seemed as if Cassidy was going to cry. But Elizabeth didn’t care. She was Class President and it felt good.

“We did it!” Charlie cheered, running to her best friend’s desk. She pulled her into a hug.

“Yeah,” Elizabeth said full of joy, “we did it.”

That night at the Afton Family dinner table, Elizabeth couldn’t help but boast about her victory.

“I won the election. I’m class president now,” Elizabeth boasted to her family.

“Congratulations Liz. You’re destined for great things.”

“I heard about that when I was talking with Shannon earlier. Cassidy was so devastated that she didn’t win.”

“Lora, is now really the best time to bring that up?” William asked his wife quietly.

“I’m just saying. You devastated the poor girl.”

“And I also won, which you said I couldn’t. A landslide victory too! 15-6.”

“Impressive,” William began amazed, “but Lora, what is this about you saying that Elizabeth couldn’t win?”

“It was encouragement to keep going,” Lora lied, “by making her think that, she worked twice as hard and won.”

“Where did you hear the word landslide?” Michael asked. It seemed as if he was scared that Elizabeth was becoming too smart for his liking.

“Mrs. Emily told me that if I needed to win, I had to upgrade my vocabulary.”

“Which you violated your grounding to learn,” Lora reminded.

“Well there’s no amount of improvement to your vocabulary that you could make that would make you smart.”

“Michael!”

“What Dad! It’s true.”

“That is not how we treat our siblings,” reprimanded William, “do we need to talk about your Spanish homework?”

“Please, Spanish is a completely unnecessary language to know,” Michael rebutted.

“There aren’t even any Mexicans in Utah,” Lora continued.

“Lora!”

“What?”

“Why. Why did you feel the need to say that?”

“Shut the fuck up Will.”

William stopped talking.

The rain was still coming down heavily when Robert Miller’s 1972 Jeep entered the driveway of the 1800s era house. His dirt driveway had become mud because of the rain, but he didn’t care. He was used to the mud.

As he opened the door, Lucky came running to him. Lucky was never his idea. Rob Jr. and Jenny had wanted a dog. He bought one, only as a manipulation tool. In his infinite generosity, he had let them have a dog, so they shouldn’t ask for anything else. He also wanted to make sure that they would take care of the mutt themselves.

“Stupid dog,” Robert muttered, kicking the Golden Retriever.

Robert entered the kitchen to find soup sitting on the table. He removed the tin foil his wife had put on it to keep it from getting cold, but it didn’t work. The soup was ice cold.

“Delilah!” Robert yelled, pounding his fists into the wooden table. Soup spilt from the bowl and onto the table, “why the fuck his my soup cold!?”

“You came home five hours after we had dinner,” Delilah began as she sheepishly entered the kitchen, “I left it out because I thought you would be an hour late. I guess I forgot to put it in the microwave after the first hour.”

“You fucking bitch,” Rob muttered getting up.

“Rob, please don’t!”

He began to slowly walk to his wife, when he stepped and slipped on a stuffed animal. Rob Jr’s rabbit.

“That fucking mistake,” Robert yelled, standing up. He ripped the head off the stuffed toy before walking towards his sons bedroom.

“Please Rob, leave him alone. He had a rough day today,” his wife pleaded.

“Fuck no.”

He approached the door of his sons room, but found that the door was locked.

“You fucking bastard, open this goddamn door right fucking now!”

“Fine then, I’ll find another way in!”

He walked back towards the door when Lucky tried to get his attention then.

“Fucking mutt, you’re going outside.”

Robert kicked the dog out the door and dragged it to the tree that he then tied it to, before walking towards his son’s bedroom window. However he found that the window was open, and his son was not inside the room.

“He went off to that place again,” he muttered. He unstrapped his 1970 Smith & Wesson revolver and stared at Lucky laughing.

“He’ll be sorry when he gets back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Story: Permission Slip (Coming Soon) 
> 
> Some notes on the story
> 
> Ended up longer than I intended, but that's because I added the Halloween stuff to it, which I think is necessary world building to give you insights into the characters. Even if it only adds a little to the plot.
> 
> I had problems with this story, but the next one is going smoother. 
> 
> I'm trying to build a mother/daughter dynamic between Vanessa and Elizabeth, so expect more of those two in the upcoming chapters.
> 
> Finally, the ending story is my solution to a little problem I had, and I think will provide further backstory to each of the characters.


	3. Story 3: Permission Slip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Eighth Grade field trip to Wessnit Campgrounds is right around the corner, but Lora has other plans for Elizabeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a really long one. (It doubled the word count)  
> *Slight Sexual Content Ahead It's Only for the Plot I Promise*

"Why does Mr. Doxxin assign so much homework?" Jessica complained as she exited Hurricane Middle School.

"I know right, he gave our class three packets all due Friday!" Elizabeth agreed. 

"What did you guys get on the Algebra test?" Charlie asked her friends as they reached the end of the stone steps.

"76," Jessica answered.

"102."

"103," Charlie boasted.

"You got the third bonus question right? We haven't even touched Quadratic Formula yet!"

"Just because something isn't taught in schools doesn't mean it's not important," Charlie replied, giving some wisdom to her friends. 

"Name one thing."

"Taxes, how to pay bills, how to change a tire, how to perform basic first aid..."

"Okay that's enough."

Charlie laughed.

"That's my bus!" Jessica said to the duo before running off towards it, leaving Charlie and Elizabeth alone on their walk towards Vanessa's car. Usually Charlie and Elizabeth would take the bus, but today was special. Vanessa was taking them shopping for their field trip to the Wessnit Campgrounds. A field trip every eighth grade class attended. Every Middle Schooler patiently, more or less, waited for for this field trip. You haven't lived until you've gone on the Wessnit Field Trip. Three days of camping, outdoor adventure, swimming, canoeing & kayaking, everything anyone could ask for. They even had fishing tourneys and archery competitions for the more outdoorsy students. 

The highlight of every Hurricane resident. Everyone attended that field trip, from the very beginning. Henry and William met on that field trip. Michael almost drowned Jimmy Wessler on the field trip (don't ask how that happened). 

To put it lightly, it was a great field trip.

Elizabeth and Charlie arrived at Vanessa's brand new white Mercedes-Benz Cabriolet convertible and set their backpacks down onto the left seat. Elizabeth sat in the middle of the roofless backseat and Charlie sat on the right. Vanessa had been patiently waiting for the two girls, while also furiously emailing Stephen about his lack of care towards managing the Salt Lake City Freddy's.

"Stephen, Will's on his way up right now, but this is the last time I'm sending someone up their to fix your mess. I don't know why the kids are tearing a part Toy Foxy! Stephen, just stop talking. God I don't even know why Henry trusted you with a restaurant. Goodbye asshole."

Vanessa hung up. 

"Hi Mom!" Charlie said, trying to break the tension of the ended phone call.

"Hi Charlie," Vanessa began as she adjusted her rearview mirror, "how was school today?"

"It was good, except for Mr. Doxxin's homework."

"Your father told me about the little predicament that happened between him and Fitzgerald Sr," Vanessa said as she pulled the car out of it's parking spot and onto the main road of Route 4, "he raised hell."

"Yeah, but he still won't give us less homework!"

"Some people just need something to push them to the edge," Vanessa replied, adjusting her Ray-Ban sunglasses, "for example, for months I couldn't convince your father to remove Music Man from the restaurant, so I convinced Will to make him play on rap songs. That got him taken out of the restaurant quickly."

"Wow," Elizabeth laughed, "was that really what it came to?"

"Henry Emily is a stubborn man, and George Doxxin is no different."

The sun beat down hard on the three as they progressed through Route 4 on their way to Walmart. Despite being worth nearly ten million dollars, Vanessa was still a regular shopper at Walmart. What can she say, it's convenient. 

It was late May, with only three weeks left of school the Wessnit Field Trip was the last major event of the school year. Which meant three whole months of summer vacation. Most kids, Charlie included, would have rejoiced at the thought. But not Elizabeth. That meant three months that she had to spend at home, with her Mother. School breaks aren't easy when your home life isn't the best. That's why Elizabeth hated Thanksgiving and Christmas, they happened right in the middle of breaks. 

"I hope you have that list of required items with you," Vanessa said to her daughter.

"It's in my phone," Charlie replied, reaching over to grab her phone from the front pocket of her backpack. 

"I can't believe they make us go out of our way to buy things for these field trips," Vanessa complained as they reached the local Walmart. 

*****

"He's gone for a week."

"The kids?"

"Michael works until ten and Elizabeth & Lucas are at friends houses and what's the baby gonna do?"

"So we have the house to ourselves."

"Exactly."

"Perfect."

"When can I expect you to arrive?"

"Five minutes or so."

"Wow."

"Please tell me you're on birth control. We don't need another 'accident'"

She glanced at Amelia, crawling innocently in her playpen.

"I'm not that dumb."

"I just turned on Stark Street, see you in a few."

"I'll be waiting."

*****

"Stephen, William is half an hour out, just wait it out."

Henry hung up the phone on the failed entrepreneur before returning to his desk. Stephen may have been a bust, but a more properly screened man named Carter had opened a Freddy's in Las Vegas. Not just a Freddy's, but a Freddy's Casino. By far the most ambitious project of Fazbear Entertainment, Henry had spent two months working to perfect everything. Part of the contract with Carter was that he would provide the robots, and Carter would do everything else. The man was a wealthy Casino Owner, and after nearly six months of background checks and some questionable attempts to gain more information on him, Henry had given Carter the go-ahead to begin his Casino. Now, he wanted to open a second casino. A whole new wave of animatronics had to be created. The Glamrocks. 

Seven characters existed, at least in Henry's notebook. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Fredbear were all getting Glamrock versions, with two new characters Roxanne Wolf and Monty Gator joining the Fazbear crew. Henry had also planned out nearly a dozen other smaller animatronics for the service of the casino. 

Vanessa had insisted Henry sign the deal with Carter, seeing the Casino as a great opportunity to build the Fazbear brand to new heights, despite the fact that the Emily's no longer needed the company. They could sell it off and that would be it. Henry had made millions selling blueprints and patents to the U.S. government and private firms, and was only using the company as a way to continue to build that wealth.

His phone rang.

Henry angrily grabbed his phone, ready to yell at Stephen, but instead it was William.

"Hey Will, you at Salt Lake City yet?" Henry asked his best friend.

"Almost, I just wanted to let you know that I just got a phone call from Tom."

Tom was Thomas Reynolds, the first term governor of Utah. Father to Cassidy and a shareholder of Fazbear Entertainment. While Henry was the majority shareholder, Thomas Reynolds owned quite a large stake in Fazbear Entertainment, enough to make Henry paranoid. He refused to sell any of his shares.

"What did he say?" Henry asked leaving his garage workshop and entering the kitchen of his home.

"He wanted to let me know that he was selling off some of his shares," William answered.

"How much?"

"Half."

"Wow, why? Shouldn't he wait until the casino opens?"

"He needed the money for his campaign. He's got some stiff competition this year."

"Hurricane's population almost doubling in three years didn't help either I assume."

"Oh yeah he's terrified."

"Yup."

"Wow," Henry laughed, "actually he's probably got a couple mistresses to pay off. A wife to bribe."

"How's the Glamrocks coming along?" William asked.

"Going well, although I had a bit of trouble getting Fred's design down."

"Wish I could help you, but I can't."

"You'll be back soon enough," Henry replied, "and then you can build these for me."

"Not a chance."

*****

"You also need something to put your toothbrush in," Vanessa said to the two girls as they progressed through the Walmart.

"Mom, I don't need that."

The cart had quickly filled up, many things were on the list, or just common sense. However some of the items on the list Vanessa had insisted that the girls need, although they were such arbitrary things. Toothbrush cases, binoculars, a flashlight, a headlamp, and other fun things. 

"Mom, stop putting random things in the cart! We're not going to use any of this."

"You don't know that," Vanessa rebutted as she examined the different sleeping bags. Those, they actually needed.

"When am I going to use these binoculars?"

"There could be a bird that's really far away," Vanessa answered, "okay what's next on the list?"

"Swimsuits," Elizabeth answered.

As the group walked towards the clothing department, a young couple caught her eye. The woman was pushing a shopping cart full of items, and the man was pushing a stroller with twins sitting in it. From their looks, they had to be in their early twenties. The twins appeared to only be a few months old.

 _"New parents,"_ Vanessa thought to herself.

Vanessa remembered when that was her and Henry. Taking young Charlie around the store, when Freddy's was only a pipe dream and Henry was still in college. 

"Mom, we're here," Charlie said to her mother, trying to snap her out of her trance.

"Uh, oh yeah go and pick out what you like."

*****

Vanessa had brought Elizabeth at roughly six p.m. and helped Lora unload all of Elizabeth's new field trip items into the house. The Afton's had recently bought a newer and larger house (they had it custom built, massive 1.5 million dollar project), which Vanessa assumed was spearheaded by Lora. The plus side was that the Afton's now lived closer to both Freddy's and the Emilys. The house had a pool, which Vanessa wasn't entirely sure Elizabeth ever swam in considering she didn't have a swimsuit. 

"Thanks for doing this," Lora said to the younger woman as they stepped outside of the massive home, "I'll Paypal you the money when I get inside."

"No need. Consider this an act of charity."

Lora laughed. 

"Come on Lizzy!" Lora called out, "you've got homework to do."

Elizabeth grabbed her backpack from the backseat of the Cabriolet and walked towards the front steps of the house. She thanked Vanessa and said goodbye to Charlie, before disappearing into the enormous building. She walked upstairs to her bedroom. One of eight inside of the house. Why do they need that many? Don't know, don't care. 

She set her backpack against the wall and kicked off her black shoes. Her desk was positioned against the only window of the bedroom, which overlooked the driveway. Michael's room had three windows, all of which overlooked the large backyard, including the pool. 

Looking out her window, Elizabeth watched Vanessa exit the driveway with Charlie in the passenger's seat. Elizabeth sighed as the Cabriolet disappeared from the sight of her window. She could hear her mother stomp up the stairs. And then, her door was kicked open.

"Why is the kitchen still uncleaned?" Lora screamed at her daughter.

"I was at school all day!" Elizabeth answered.

"That's not excuse," Lora replied viciously as she slapped her daughter hard against her left cheek.

"Ow!" Elizabeth held her cheek for a moment.

"Go clean that goddamn kitchen!"

"Why couldn't you have done it?"

"Because I was busy!"

"Doing what?"

"That's none of your business." 

Elizabeth rushed downstairs to clean the kitchen quickly. Thankfully the family wasn't a bunch of pigs, so there wasn't much to do. But her mother watched her as she cleaned. Occasionally glancing at the pile of things Vanessa had purchased for Elizabeth. 

As she finished drying and putting away the last dish, Elizabeth looked across the completely clean kitchen with satisfaction. Lora however, disappeared into the home office. Elizabeth went to go back up to her room, but her mother entered the kitchen.

"You're permission slip is due tomorrow right?" Lora asked her daughter.

"Ye-yeah..."

"Well it's gone."

"What! What happened to it?"

"I don't know."

She was lying.

_Three hours earlier...._

"Mr. Reynolds, I have some papers for you to sign."

Lora handed Thomas a clipboard with a large stack of papers clipped to it. On top was Elizabeth's permission slip for school. He grabbed a pen from the pen holder and scribbled all over the paper, not caring about what was on it. Even if he did read it, he wouldn't care. The man is the governor of the state. Worth fifty-six million dollars. Governor of a state with four and a half million residents. He could scribble on as much paper as he wanted.

"Thank you Lora," he responded, however his mind wandered from the papers and more towards, other things. Most notably the fact that Lora wasn't wearing a bra, and that he could tell. 

"Well there's also, a situation in the southeast."

"And what would that be?"

Lora laughed, "someone got caught fucking their secretary."

Thomas laughed as well, "what a lucky man."

"It was a woman."

"Hotter."

"Well, I think that's everything," Lora said taking the clipboard from the desk and walking towards the door.

"Wait a minute," Thomas called out, "you know Lora, you've been so dedicated to this job recently. Working as hard as you can to improve," he did a little fist pump while he said that, "that I want to properly recognize and reward it."

"What did you have in mind sir?" Lora asked, biting her lower lip. (Because biting your upper lip is quite frankly abnormal). 

"Well, there's a wide variety of things," Thomas began, standing up, "a bonus," he began to walk towards the much younger woman (mates 58 and she's 39.), "extra vacation days, company credit," he was now standing behind her of her, "or..."

He wrapped his arms around her and cupped her c-cup breasts.

"Oh, Mr. Reynolds," she responded with a flirtatious tone, feeling his erection bulging through his pants.

Now that's roleplay for ya.

_BACK TO THE PRESENT >>>>>>>>>>_

"What am I supposed to do now?" Elizabeth asked. 

"You could print off another one."

"That's right I can."

"But I'm not going to sign it."

"WHAT!?"

"If you're going to lose your papers, I'm not going to bail you out," Lora said, clarifying her point.

"Mom, you have to!" Elizabeth pleaded desperately, "this is important. This is Wessnit!"

"Elizabeth, I don't care!" Lora yelled, "I don't give a shit about how 'important' this is to you. I don't understand how you still think I care about you. I don't! And neither does anyone else. I had to plead with Vanessa to take you shopping because she doesn't want to be around you. You are nothing. You are a spoiled brat who is sitting on a million dollar inheritance, which if I had a choice you wouldn't get. Now get the fuck out of my kitchen and do your fucking homework before I make this more personal!"

*****

The news of Elizabeth not being able to go on the field trip hurt Charlie. Elizabeth had told her that she had lost the permission slip and was unable to print in time, but we both know that's a lie. At first, Charlie refused to go because she felt it unfair that she could go but Elizabeth couldn't. It took a lot of persuasion from both Jessica and Elizabeth to convince Charlie to go to Wessnit despite this. 

The buses picked everyone up at their houses at eight a.m. sharp. Six busses in total. They could only seat half the kids as usual, because of all the luggage. All three of Hurricane's middle schools attended the field trip, but not the Christian school. They had their own end of the year field trip for the eighth grade class. Probably involved Jesus or something. 

Henry and Vanessa waved goodbye to their daughter as she boarded the bus, and then closed the front door. Sammy had already gotten on the bus to go to school, so they were alone. The perfect time for Vanessa to talk to Henry.

"Henry," Vanessa began, "can we talk?'

"Yeah..'" Henry answered, suspecting something was up. Vanessa sat down on the couch, the same one she was given by her mother when she got her first apartment, and waved for Henry to sit with her. 

"This field trip, it's making me come to a realization. Charlie's going to be a high-schooler in the fall, Sammy's entering middle school as well. Our children are growing up Henry. And, we're not even forty yet, I mean I'm 35, we're millionaires so we could easily afford it... I guess what I'm trying to say is... I want another baby.

"Oh thank god."

"What?"

"Well it's been almost eleven years I just assumed you didn't want another one."

"You've wanted another kid this entire time?"

"Uh, yeah, I always wanted three..."

Vanessa shut him up by kissing him.

"Then let's make it."

Oh god I did it twice in one Story.

*****

Elizabeth was one of six kids who weren't going on the Wessnit field trip. Alongside her was Christopher, Kellen, Michelle, Joseph, and Amber were either barred from going, or didn't pass in their permission slips in time. 

The only one of them that Elizabeth knew was Amber. They had worked on a history project together the year prior, and did a stellar job at if. Even if Lora did throw it away unexpectedly. Amber was a redhead with bright green eyes. The same shade of green that Elizabeth had. Amber was a rebellious type, which is why she was barred from the field trip in the first place. After the stunt she pulled with the firecrackers, she was surprised to even see Amber, assuming she had been suspended.

The six children were cooped up in library all day for three days. It was late May, and the hot days continued to punish the six eighth graders. It pained Elizabeth to know that because of her mother she was missing out on such an important field trip. 

Charlie on the other hand was having a blast. They had spent the entire day on a nature hike exploring the sites that Wessnit had to offer, and were now at the Wessnit beach. Cassidy and Marla were tanning, Carlton and Lamar were leading a turtle hunt, and the others were swimming. Charlie and Jessica had joined Julia Woods and Jack Puckett had joined a game of beach volleyball. 

"You may be on the volleyball team Jula but that doesn't mean I can't kick your ass!" Jessica taunted.

"Language!" Ms. Parry yelled.

"Sorry!"

"And score!" Jack yelled as he spiked the ball down into the sand.

"And we win, again," Julia said, mocking Jessica's taunts.

"I yield, you're better than me."

"I think we found one!" Carlton yelled. Some of the students swimming looked over. Lamar was nowhere to be seen. 

"I think they're weird," Julia laughed.

"Yeah," Jessica agreed. 

John, Oscar, and Spencer were in the woods admiring the scenery. Birds, flowers, and even the moss were all breathtaking. Hurricane didn't have much forest, especially once the town started rapidly expanding. John partly blamed Freddy's and the Afton Robotics factory, but it was mostly because the town was a nice place to live. At least John thought so. 

"Where are you going to do it?" Spencer asked. 

"I don't know," John answered.

"Come on, you have to know," Oscar said, "everything has to be planned. It shows you care."

"Does it?"

"It does."

John had been building up the courage everyday since December to ask Charlie to be his girlfriend. He had decided in April that he would do it on the Wessnit field trip, however he hadn't expected time to go by as fast as it did. Now he actually had to. And it was terrifying to him.

"Do it at the bonfire!" Oscar suggested, "it would be a great time and place. And romantic."

"Good idea," Spencer replied.

John sat down on a stump, filled with anxiousness. 

The second day was the canoe race and the fishing tourney. Charlie took note that Cassidy wasn't at the fishing tourney, but that didn't distract her. Her team, the Crystal Dragons (not her name idea) came in fourth place overall in amount and size of fish caught. 

The third day was the final day, and the students were free to do whatever they wanted on the campgrounds. Unsafe, but fun. 

Elizabeth was thankful that they had finally gotten to the third day. They had no work to do in the library, all there was to do was read or find something to do with the things in their backpacks. Cell Phones were not allowed and school issued laptops had been collected prior to the field trip. Not that the cell phone part mattered because Elizabeth still didn't have one. Lora had told her that it would 'ruin her' and that she would use it to break house rules.

So there Elizabeth was, sitting at a large table in the library with the other five. Today she had brought in a word search book to help quench her boredom. However, that day the library Mrs. Holland made an announcement.

"The Principal has decided to make today a half day for you six, so go home."

"Really?" Amber began, "that's how you announce it?"

"Yup," the eighty year old woman responded, sitting back in her chair to continue reading _Little Women._

The six eighth graders each grabbed their bags and left the library and were let out by the school's resource officer, Officer Gaines.

"Elizabeth," Amber called out, "wanna go get ice-cream?" 

"Sure, why not?" Elizabeth answered.

The two girls walked in silence on their way towards the town's local ice-cream establishment until Amber tried to break it.

"What's it like, being a millionaire and all?" 

"It's a little weird. It's hard to relate to people. Like it's weird to relate to people when you live in a million dollar home," Elizabeth answered, hoping her answer satisfied Amber.

"I don't think I could ever be rich. Too much work. And too much taxes."

"Well if the election goes the way my Mom wants it to go taxes will lower soon."

"Imagine that, four years of Laurie Gold."

Elizabeth laughed. Gold was a controversial presidential candidate for her, way with words. Yeah we'll go with that.

"Imagine the press conferences!"

"And the State of the Union. Especially if she's drunk."

The two girls continued to laugh until they arrived at the Dairy Queen. Where they each enjoyed their ice-cream. Elizabeth had only agreed to go with Amber because she wanted to spend less time at home, and since all of her friends were out of town she didn't have any excuses.

Until now. 

As they finished their ice-creams, Amber began to have a crazy look on her face, as if she was scheming. Elizabeth caught on to this. She was very perceptive.

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"Nothing."

"Not nothing, you're plotting something."

"No!"

"Yes you are, I can tell."

"Okay fine, you remember that old warehouse that got closed down?"

"Yeah..."

"Let's go check it out."

"What! Why?"

"Because I'm bored. You're bored, there's nothing to do."

"Fine."

"Yay!"

*****

Charlie, Jessica, and Julia had elected to check out the cave they found on the nature hike, with the help of the headlamp and flashlights Vanessa was so insistent on Charlie having. It would only be a quick in and out. No movie cliches. Nothing. The entrance of the cave was very boring, but as the girls progressed farther into the cave, the more interesting things they found. A group of creepily shaped/carved pillars and a lot of different colored rocks.

"This place is creepy," Jessica said.

"But totally cool!" Julia replied. 

"You and I have very different definitions of the word cool."

Cassidy had told Amelia and Sydney to go out on their own, because she had personal business to attend to. She couldn't have asked for a better situation. Elizabeth wasn't on the trip, the entire day would be spent with few witnesses, and Charlie's bunk was only a few away from Cassidy's. Perfect.

Cassidy had carefully unzipped Charlie's backpack and began fishing around inside. She knew Charlie didn't have her phone with her, her shorts didn't have the pockets for it, and she wasn't carrying it. She also knew it wasn't password protected. She had specifically watched Charlie to figure out whether or not her phone was password protected. And thankfully, it wasn't. She found Charlie's phone lodged between her toothbrush and can of bug spray. She shoved the phone in her pocket and walked into the cabin bathroom, shutting and locking the door. The phone was protected with a think turquoise Otterbox Case.

Cassidy began to her master plan to see every photo, text, email, direct message, and notification in the phone. She couldn't possibly see everything, so she came prepared. An Afton Robotics invention as well. The Nighthawk Parental Control System was a parental control system, as the name suggests. However, what made it special was that for an additional cost, the child wouldn't know that their device had the app installed, because it would trick the device into thinking it was deleted, but still allowing the parent to watch the device, and have a copy of it's hard drive installed into the parent's device, so they could browse the child's device. 

"Checkmate bitch," Cassidy muttered as the Nighthawk System finished setting up on Charlie's phone. As quickly as it appeared on the homescreen, it disappeared. It removed itself from the previously downloaded list on the app store, it made had the hard drive appear as if it was unchanged. 

She did a quick check on her iPad to make sure that everything worked, and in real time. Then, she placed the phone in her pocket once again and crept back to Charlie's backpack. Putting everything to where it should be, she laid on her bunk and began to scroll through everything Charlie had.

Elizabeth and Amber arrived at the warehouse at four p.m. They had made many questionable pit stops at gas stations and other locations. While the other students were getting out of school, and the other eigth graders having fun at Wessnit, she and Amber were breaking and entering. 

The warehouse was creepy. Despite only being closed for six years, the place looked like it hadn't been touched in seventy. Elizabeth didn't understand it, and she didn't want to. Amber on the other hand was ecstatic. She thought the building was, and was a great place to explore.

"My brother used to talk about how this place was only visited by druggies," Amber told Elizabeth, "but it looks like it's never been visited. 

"Sure looks like it," Elizabeth replied.

"The door seems to be chained shut, I wonder if there's another entrance."

"There's always another more dangerous entrances to abandoned buildings."

"This isn't a horror movie!"

"Could be."

Amber and Elizabeth both surveyed the property, trying to find another entrance. Elizabeth was beginning to have second thoughts. Was she really going to break into an abandoned warehouse that only druggies visit? How can she be sure this isn't a kidnapping operation. So many thoughts ran through her head as she searched.

"Found one!" Amber called out. Elizabeth slowly walked towards the redhead, hoping the worst wasn't imminent. 

"Holy shit that's big!" Elizabeth shouted as she reached the side of the building Amber was on. The entire garage door was open, with a discarded semi-truck broken down next to it. 

"Well, let's go in," Amber said, grabbing Elizabeth's hand and leading her inside of the building. 

"It's empty," Amber said disappointed that she wouldn't get to see something cool. 

"It's dark!" Elizabeth shouted.

"This place is cool."

"It's creepy!"

"You're scared aren't you?"

"No!"

"Elizabeth, you didn't have to come inside if you didn't want to."

"Who said I didn't want to?"

"You're sure as hell acting like it."

Then they heard a loud clank noise.

"What was that!?" Elizabeth squeeled, jumping back.

"It's rats," Amber answered.

"Worse!" 

Elizabeth left the warehouse, realising that she shouldn't have agreed to go with Amber. Then, she saw a stray cat.

"Aw," Elizabeth said, walking towards it slowly, kneeling down two feet in front of it.

"Meow."

"Hi there Mr. Cat. Can I pet you?"

The cat walked towards Elizabeth and began rubbing the left side of its face on her left leg. Elizabeth reached out a hand to pet the cat.

"That's demon cat," Amber revealed as she exited the warehouse. 

"Why give it such a horrible name?" Elizabeth asked.

"Because at night, it's eyes look like a demon," Amber answered.

"Okay then."

'Demon Cat', such a horrible name for a cat, continued to rub its face against Elizabeth, who continued to return the affection with pets. The cat appeared to be a tabby cat, and wasn't as thin as you would expect of a stray cat. 'Demon Cat' then began to meow like a siren at a nuclear power plant that just decided to blow up for reasons unexplained. 

"I think it's hungry," Elizabeth said.

"I don't have any milk," Amber replied.

"Most cats are lactose-intolerant."

"Oh," Amber responded, having her entire worldview shattered. Demon Cat then saw a mouse crawling around near the abandoned truck and pounced after it. The sudden movement of the cat startled Elizabeth, who almost fell over. 

"Wow," Amber said in response to the fiasco, "well, this was a fail."

"We saw the warehouse, right?"

"Yeah but it wasn't fun. And you're clearly not having a good time."

"Well the building was terrifying yeah, but the cat was cute."

"I'm going home," Amber announced, walking towards the dirt road that the warehouse connected to. They were part way up a mountain, that overlooked the town. Certain parts of the mountain gave a direct overhead view of Hurricane, and the otherside gave an overhead view of New Harmony. Elizabeth suspected that she could see Wessnit from the mountain peak, but she wasn't going to climb a mountain in the late afternoon to look at a campground.

"Wait!" Elizabeth called out, getting off the ground and walking towards Amber.

"What?" 

"I'm leaving too."

"Oh," Amber replied, with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Actually," Elizabeth began, "I bet this road would take us to a place where we could see the entirety of Hurricane. I've never been up here."

"Sounds... fun."

*****

The bonfire finally came. What was supposed to be a final celebration of the eighth graders had now become a moment of anxiety for John. 

It was an exciting moment for Cassidy. 

Many of the students sat on different log benches surrounding the campfire. Others were standing farther back talking, and John was sitting by the restrooms pondering his life choices. Oscar and Spencer were sitting by the fire eating hotdogs with Lamar and Carlton. He was alone, just as he wanted.

The sun was setting, and it became harder to see with each passing minute. Cassidy had finally left the cabin and joined the rest of the group for the bonfire. She hadn't realised how quickly time had passed. She spent three hours on Nighthawk, and only scratched the surface of what she had gathered. Amelia and Sydney were curious about where she went off to, but she danced around answering the question. She's learnt many things from her politician father, and the most important has been how to avoid answering a question. She had to keep this a secret. 

John had finally met his fate when Oscar and Spencer became fed up with him waiting and walked over to him. 

"Okay that's it, go over and ask her to be your girlfriend or give up. Yield. Look for a different fish. And at least be confident enough to cast your reel next time."

"Fine, I'll do it. Where is she?"

"How should I know, it's dark out."

"Well that's helpful."

Spencer laughed. 

"Not funny Oscar."

"Hey that wasn't me!"

John began to survey the area, but he just couldn't make out any faces, which proved problematic since he needed to find someone based off of face alone. It didn't help that Charlie's outfit and hair was a carbon copy of everyone else's, so there was no real distinguishing feature besides face, and body shape wasn't helpful since he didn't know what her body looked like.

Elizabeth and Amber had spent nearly three hours walking around the mountain until they found the perfect spot. The entire town could be seen. It was clearly a tourist attraction as the peak had picnic tables and a chain fence keeping people from falling.

"Hey look, it's Freddy's," Elizabeth said pointing at it.

"And your house," Amber replied, pointing at the large home, sitting front and center of one of Hurricanes many suburban areas. 

"And the school."

Elizabeth didn't care anymore about her Mom. She didn't have a cellphone so she her Mom couldn't text or call her, but she had a feeling that even if she did, her mother wouldn't. Lora just didn't care enough to bother. 

"This view is really something," Amber said, taking it all in. The wind chill was starting to set in. Neither girl had a sweatshirt or jacket, as they hadn't planned for the adventure to take this long.

"This town is bigger than I thought it was," Elizabeth said as she continued to survey the town. 

"Thanks to Freddy's."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Depends on whether or not you like big towns," Amber answered, laying on her back. Elizabeth glanced over at her, and noted that her shirt had been stretched back to expose her midriff. She quickly looked away before Amber could notice that she was staring. (is stretched the right term? pulled back? I don't know.)

 _"Why though?"_ Elizabeth thought to herself, curious. 

"You know," Amber began, "I think that this town needs something interesting."

"What do you mean?"

"Something major. Something crazy. Everyone in the town is involved."

"Like a massacre?"

"No. Like, drama. Like an expóse. Imagine if something happened to the Emilys or the Reynolds. That would be fun to watch.

"That would be interesting to watch play out," Elizabeth replied, laying down next to Amber. 

Little did they know what was coming...

"Elizabeth. Is there anything in life that you ever question?"

"What do you mean?" 

"Just, anything."

"Well I mean yes, doesn't everyone?"

"No, I mean specifically." 

"No..."

Deep down though, she knew she was lying. 

John had pressed on with his search for Charlie, until finally he found her, sitting on a bench with Jessica, Carlton, Julia, and Marla. As he made his way towards her, she stood up from the bench and walked towards the restrooms. John followed her as she made her way towards the restroom, but didn't go inside. Instead she went behind them.

"What the heck?"

John returned to the benches near the restrooms, where Spencer and Oscar were sitting, however this time he had an excuse for sitting on the bench.

"So..." Spencer began.

"How did it go?" Oscar finished. 

"I didn't ask her," John answered.

"Why not?" Oscar asked.

"Because she walked away before I could talk to her."

"Oh."

John sat with his friends, not because he enjoyed their company at the particular moment, but because he wanted to catch Charlie before she returned to her friends. 

And then he shot his shot.

Elizabeth and Amber laid on the mountain for forty minutes staring at the sky, admiring the view, and talking about anything and everything. However Elizabeth had begun to realise that she needed to go home. It was 9:00 p.m. and her house was pretty far from where she was laying. 

"I need to start getting home," Elizabeth told Amber, standing up. She could hardly see as she walked towards where her backpack had been discarded, laying against a tree on the side of the road. Elizabeth planned to climb down the mountain and skip taking the road, which was the long way. 

"Wait," Amber called out, standing up as well.

"Elizabeth, there's something I need to do..."

"Which is?'

Amber walked towards Elizabeth and wrapped her arms around Elizabeth's back, pulling her into a kiss. Elizabeth pushed her back in shock, causing both of them to fall to the ground.

"What the fuck!?"

"I'm.. sorry," Amber whimpered, grabbing her backpack and running off into the mountain woods. 

Elizabeth sat on the ground in confusion, staring up at the moon. She didn't even want to chase after Amber, or speak to her.

_"What the hell?"  
_

Elizabeth arrived home at 10:41 p.m., which was better than what she had planned. It was thankfully a Friday so she did not have to worry about not getting enough sleep. Her mother hadn't even crossed her mind the entire walk home, which was drowned out with Elizabeth's 1500 song Spotify playlist, which she had on a shared account with Charlie. She had it on an old iPod Touch that she bought from Jessica in seventh grade, and was barely holding on. 

When she unlocked and opened the front door of mansion, she was immediately met with screaming.

"Where the fuck were you!?" Lora yelled to her daughter, "do you have any idea what time it is!"

"Late."

"No fucking shit sherlock. You're grounded for a month. Pray I don't extend it."

"I deserve that."

"What is that supposed to mean. Are my punishments not harsh enough for you?" Lora asked, walking towards Elizabeth.

"Mom... what are you doing!?"

Lora grabbed Elizabeth by her head and neck and smashed it against the entryway wall, letting her daughter fall to the floor, covered in broken drywall. Lora laughed as Elizabeth let out long, loud, and painful sobs. 

It took almost another hour for the pain to dissipate, clean her hair and head, and get to her bedroom. After changing into her sleeping attire, Elizabeth slipped into bed and hugged her Circus Baby plush tightly, hoping that her mother didn't have any more additional punishments. 

However even with the situation with her Mother, Elizabeth's thoughts wandered. 

_"What the fuck happened with Amber?"_

Elizabeth had been caught off guard by Amber's unwarranted kiss. Elizabeth had never been in a relationship before, but she knew enough to know that you don't just walk up to someone and kiss them. 

Why had Amber done it though? Was it a cruel joke, a dare, a miscommunication.

Or did Amber like her.

Hundreds of thoughts ran through Elizabeth's head.

If Amber did like her, then how did she respond to that. She wasn't gay. 

_"OR am I?"_

Elizabeth had been asking herself this question for eight months, and she finally had an answer.

*****

Charlie had arrived home from Wessnit at ten a.m. Saturday morning. The bus had left early. Too early for many who stayed up late during the bonfire. Charlie hadn't gone to bed too late so she wasn't hit as hard. Although last nights game of Truth and Dare had left her with some permanent mental scarring. 

_"Never again."_

When she arrived home, she was greeted by her entire family. Aunt Jen had stopped by for breakfast, so she was there as well. 

"What happened to the couch?" Charlie asked after Sammy finally stopped hugging her. They took a quick photo together before Sammy ran to sit on the couch. The eighteen year old couch was no longer sitting in the Emily's living room, instead a new and larger leather couch sat in its place. 

"Your mom, uh, well you see she uh...."

"Henry," Vanessa said to her husband kicking him in the shin, "shut up."

"Okay then." 

The phone rang.

"I'll get that," Henry announced, walking towards the end table to the left of the couch. He picked up the landline and answered it, walking into the kitchen. 

"So, another week of school and you're officially a high schooler," Aunt Jen said to Charlie. Jen was thirty-three and unmarried. She had no kids of her own, and because of this she spent as much time as possible with Charlie and Sammy. 

"Yeah, it's, surreal."

"Hm, big word."

"All words are big, from a certain point of view."

"Dear!" Henry called from the kitchen.

"Yeah."

"How would you feel about a family vacation to Los Angeles?" 

"Why?"

"Because Carter wants to open a Freddy's in LA."

"Well then, let's do it."

"We're going to California!" Sammy cheered.

Charlie laughed.

Cassidy had laid down in her bed for the first time in almost four days. She checked her iPad.

**Nighthawk: 43 Notifications**

**Snapchat: 32 Notifications**

**Instagram: 153 Notifications**

Cassidy was interested to see what the Nighthawk notifications were for. As she opened the app, she saw that Charlie's phone had 22 new photos added to it, and ten new text messages had been received. 

She checked the photos first. Twenty photos had been with John. News traveled fast of their new relationship, so Cassidy wasn't surprised to see the photos, however she was surprised to see the quantity.

The twenty-first photo was of Charlie, Jessica, Marla, and Julia. Cassidy immediately understood why it hadn't bee posted to Instagram as soon as she looked at Marla. 

The final photo was of Charlie and who she assumed to be her younger brother, who's name she learnt through the text messages between her and her Mom. Samuel, or Sammy as the family called him. In the background, two woman leaned against a wall with multiple photo frames. The one on the right was younger than the one on the left, but only by a small amount. She identified the right woman as Vanessa, Charlie's mother, thanks to Charlie's large photo library. 

**Nighthawk: 1 New Notification**

Cassidy refreshed the app to find another photo had been added to the library.

_"Interesting."_

*****************************************

Rob Jr. had begun to struggle in school. It was hard losing Lucky and his mother in such a short span, and it was affecting his grades. Despite being the smartest kid in the classroom, he was getting the third lowest grades.

His teacher, Mrs. Mills had taken note of his grade drop, and how close it was to his mother's death, and arranged a meeting between Rob Jr. and the schools guidance counselor and Mrs. Emily. Robert had viewed the meeting as useless, but the Principal intervened and said that preventing a grieving child from seeking emotional support was a terrible thing to do to a child. He backed down, hoping to protect his public image. His public image was already in the gutter when Walter Wallace caught him and Hailey Wallace in the act, while Delilah was still alive mind you. 

Rob Jr. wasn't too fond of seeing Mrs. Emily, especially since his sister didn't have to. But Mrs. Mills told him it would help. 

He entered the waiting room of the New Harmony Elementary School Main Office and sat down in one of the five chairs they had available. New Harmony and Hurricane likely would have merged school districts if a mountain wasn't separating the two towns. 

The school's secretary, Mrs. Hobbs noticed his arrival.

"Charlotte!" Mrs. Hobbs called out quietly, "Robert Jr. has arrived for his appointment." 

"Send him in," Mrs. Emily replied. 

"You can go in now," Mrs Hobbs said to the young boy. 

He sat down in the chair opposite to Mrs. Emily's. Her large chestnut desk was the central focus of the office, with a fancy and shiny nameplate in the center of it.

**Dr. Charlotte Emily.**

"Hello Robert, do you have a different name you'd like me to call you? Rob, Bob, bert?"

"I usually go by my middle name," he answered.

"Which is?"

"Jake."

"Jake, okay Jake, I'm Mrs. Emily," the middle aged woman replied, reaching out a hand for a handshake. Her wrists were covered in many bracelets. Some of the colors Jake had never seen before. 

"So Jake, where do you want to begin?"

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"Well I understand you've been going through a lot lately. Your mother, your dog. Your grades are slipping, surley there must be something you want to talk about."

"No. Not really. I'm just really angry recently."

"Why?" She knew exactly why, but she was hoping to learn something new about Jake. He didn't seem interested in opening up, but she didn't have a doctorate for nothing. 

"Why did god have to take my Mom! It's not fair. She didn't do anything. I hear all these stories on the news about Mom's who neglect their kids and they're still alive! But why not mine."

"Jake, everything god does is to better an individual. Sometimes we may see it as cruel, but in the end, we become better people because of it. And trust me, god has a special place in hel.. I mean the underworld for moms like the ones you see on tv."

"How is losing my Mom going to make me become a better person?"

"That's the question, and sometimes you may not realise the answer until much later down the line."

She paused for a moment. She had a question she wanted to ask, but wasn't sure how to ask it.

"Well, back to the anger subject, surely you can't just let all that anger build up. Do you punch things, take your anger out on others?"

"I draw."

"You draw, I see. Can I see?"

"Uh, yeah," Jake answered. He leant down to grab his notebook from his backpack, where he kept all of his drawings. Charlotte watched as he fished around in his backpack.

"Here we go," he announced, setting the notebook down on the chestnut desk. Charlotte grabbed the notebook and opened it to a random page. On that page, a golden bear with a purple hat and bowtie was leading a group that she assumed were his friends. A brown bear with a black hat and bowtie, a near carbon copy of the previous bear, a bluish-purple bunny, a yellow chicken, and a reddish brown fox. 

They were standing off against three men who looked like classic criminals. Men in grey and white striped shirts, shaved heads, mean faces, and their legs shackled to a large metal ball. Behind the three, was a different man. He was purple. Wearing a purple suit, with a yellow badge, holding a purple knife.

Charlotte began to slowly but surley put the pieces together.

"What is this?" she asked the young boy, turning the notebook around.

"That's Fredbear and his friends!"

"Who are they?"

"Well that's Fredbear," he began, pointing at the golden bear, "that's Freddy, that's Bonnie, there's Chica, and this one is Foxy. He's a pirate. They go around the world fighting criminals and protecting kids.

Charlotte was always a perceptive person. From a very young age both friends and family commented on how she could notice the fine details of things. It's one of the reasons she pursued this career path in the first place. She hoped to be able to combine her perception skills with her psychology degree. She hadn't planned on being a school counselor, but life doesn't always go as planned.

Her brain was moving a thousand miles a minute, putting the pieces together. She had something, or it was nothing. If it was nothing, then she made a colossal mistake. But she knew things, she knew the town gossip and news. Combining her hypothesis with other theories sprinkling out within the towns gossip circles, she may have something.

If Jake was really projecting the world around him into his notebook, then surely the answer to this next question would be the final piece.

Right?

_"It better be."_

"So Jake," Charlotte began, hoping to crack the case, "what kind of criminals do Fredbear and his friends fight?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Story: Big Sister (Coming Soon)
> 
> Well, that was longer than planned. Standing at a whopping 8,000 words this chapter is way too long. It doubled the word count!. Which is why I have elected to split Stories 4 and 5 into two separate parts, since not only are their main stories longer than this one, but their little epilogue stories (which I'm calling the Midnight Motorist Saga) are twice as long as this one. I may also split the Epilogue of the entire story into two parts as well. By splitting stories 4 and 5 into two parts, that gives me an extra Midnight Motorist story as well. I also planned on having this up on April 28th and it's May 10th.
> 
> This chapter went well in many parts (I'm particularly fond of the Midnight Motorist and the Cassidy portions of the story) however others, I don't think went as well. 
> 
> Regarding sexual content in the story, I only want to include it if it will further the plot, which is why I haven't been very descriptive with it either. It exists to further the plot, and that is all. 
> 
> The next story is going to take place in the fall of the same year. Entering high school is great for a story (which is why it's two parts) and because there are two existing plot threads that haven't been resolved yet. 
> 
> With that, take care lads.


	4. Story 4: Homecoming Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of 2.  
> It's Homecoming at Hurricane High, and everyone's excited. Cassidy, as tradition, is holding her big after game party and this year, Charlie and her friends are attending.  
> Part 1: The school-day and some world building/character development.  
> Part 2: The party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready, it's the longest one yet.  
> I retconned NightHawk out of the story and this is the Homecoming of their Senior year not Freshman year. This is because the events of Part 2 tie directly into Stories 5 and 6.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME!!"

Lora looked at her daughter, who was now three inches taller than her. The heigh difference did not matter to Lora, the strength difference didn't matter. Lora had her greatest weapon. Everything that happened in the Afton household was chained down by Lora's words. Razor blades to the heart.

"I called you a bitch!" Elizabeth screamed back. 

"Go cut yourself in the bathroom or whatever you stupid fucking white girls do for attention," Lora scoffed, walking away. 

Lora left the large entryway of the Afton home and went to the kitchen, where Lucas was doing his homework. William was in the garage working on his current project and Amelia was playing with her dolls on the floor. From what Lora could tell, her dolls were fighting the Twisted Wolf and Nightmare Freddy. Lora laughed. Amelia was her favorite child, anything Amelia wanted, she got. Amelia was priority over Elizabeth and Lucas. 

"Mom can you tell her to stop, I can't focus with all this noise!" Lucas complained, looking up from his pre-Algebra homework. Lora laughed.

"Then go to your room, she's not hurting anyone," Lora answered, patting her nine year-old daughter on the head. Amelia glared at Lucas. 

William stepped out from the garage and into the kitchen of the manor, walking towards his wife. Lora set down the pot she had grabbed to make dinner and hugged him.

"Hey Will," she said.

"Need me to help with dinner?" he asked, looking at the pot.

"Nah, I can do it. You go take a shower, you smell like motor oil."

"Can do."

William stood up to Lora on only one issue, their marriage. It was his trump card, if he divorced her he took all of his money with him. He had everything he needed to win custody, to win the alimony suit, and knew that if they divorced Lora's prominence in the town would fall considerably. So what did William do? Forced her into marriage counseling. Lora knew what was at stake, and went with it. She was a theater student in high-school, and was an incredible actress. 

Upstairs, Elizabeth slammed her bedroom door and grabbed her phone. Lora had finally caved into buying her a phone because she was tired of her using the landline. The phone wasn't new. A Samsung Galaxy S4 which was five years old when she got it. Lora had also put her on a different data plan than the rest of the family, she had very different rules. But Instagram and Snapchat didn't need data. 

Elizabeth had found many ways past Lora's bad guidelines. She had multiple books with fake storage inside of them that she had on her bookshelf alongside her real books. With the help of Charlie, she had bypassed NightHawk on her phone, which her mother had installed without her knowledge. Instead of displaying the actual screen, it displayed a fake one. A simple algorithm that took Charlie an afternoon to create. 

Charlie had taken the summer to learn programming, which she of course did. Henry obviously helped her, but most of it was self taught. Susie was taking graphic design courses that school year, because she had cleared most of her required credits in her first two years so she could spend her Junior and Senior years doing courses that she enjoyed. So why is that relevant? Because Charlie and Susie were making an app!

The Instagram group chat was filled to the brim with discussion of the app. Elizabeth did not even know what the app was! Instead, she needed to focus on getting her homework done.

*****

Cassidy loved Homecoming. The atmosphere of the school, and the patriotism towards the team and the school. Some could even call Cassidy a Hurricane High nationalist. The pep rally was fun, and the football game and post party was a blast. Usually, Homecoming games are followed by a dance, but instead Cassidy held a large house party instead. Everyone in Hurricane was invited, including Charlie and Elizabeth. Cassidy didn't care, she just wanted to have fun.

Sydney was on the Student Council, and was put onto the decorating committee, which meant she was in charge of decorating the school. 

On a cool early-October morning, Cassidy, Sydney, Sarah, and Allison walked to school together. The leaves had begun to fall and were blowing on the sidewalk around the young-women's feet. The leaves danced around Cassidy's tall, black-leathered high-heeled boots. The crunching noise made by each step satisfied Cassidy. 

"Leaves are fun," Sydney declared, grabbing one of the blowing leaves with her gloved hand. 

"Why are you wearing gloves in October?" Sarah asked.

"I'm cold, I have a skin condition, and I like them," Sydney explained. The others laughed.

"If it's this cold tonight I might have to bring hand warmers," Cassidy said as the walked passed the post office, which marked the three-quarter mark to the school. 

"Yeah, why is it so cold! We're not even in the north. Or the east. Or on a mountain," Allison began, "speaking of mountains we're going up to the Colorado mountains for winter-break to go skiing for a whole week. I've never been to Colorado, marijuana is legal there now. I wonder what that's like. Do they sell it at the grocery store now? Home growing?"

"Allison!" Cassidy said, trying to shut her up, "we get it. Mountains, cold, weed."

"You talk too much," Sydney said to Allison.

"You're wearing gloves." 

"It's cold!" 

"It's thirty-five degrees out," Cassidy revealed, glancing at her Apple Watch Series 5, which had released just a week prior.

"See, it's cold!" Sydney yelled, "I'm right."

"There's no snow!" Sarah yelled back.

"There should be it's cold!"

"It's OCTOBER!"

"Guys!" Cassidy yelled, "stop."

"It's October," Sarah muttered.

As the group arrived at the school, so did the New Harmony school bus. A year prior, Cassidy's father and the Governor opted to merge the Hurricane and New Harmony school districts. 

"I hate them," Sarah said, pointing at the bus, "they're all so annoying. Rednecks, and druggies all around. The only good ones aren't even on that bus."

"Yeah, no one cares how much you support Laurie Gold, you don't need to talk about her everyday."

"Look, one of them's wearing the hat," Sydney said, pointing at Chris Redwood. 

"I swear, if one of them brings any crack or whatever they do to the party tonight I will rain hell down on them," Cassidy muttered. Cassidy was very careful about what was allowed at her parties.

"I'll have my dad take care of them," Allison said to Cassidy. Allison was Carlton's sister, and daughter of Sheriff Burke and District Attorney Betty Burke. 

"Good," Cassidy replied as the four friends walked up the front steps of the large high-school.

Hurricane was becoming a large town, very quickly. Freddy's and Afton Robotics brought many Utahans to Hurricane seeking employment, and because of that, the town grew. As the town grew, it become a more enticing place for new residents moving to Utah and who were looking for a place to move to. Because of the towns size, the high-school's student body was growing as well, and required a complete reconstruction. The new building had been finished in June, and this was the first school year that it was used. 

Three floors, massive sports fields surrounding the building. The cafeteria was larger than most elementary schools in rural Utah. The debate became whether there should be two high-schools in Hurricane or not. Instead, the mayor opted to allow a private school to be constructed where the old high-school used to be. 

The entryway of the school was large. All three stories of the school were exposed, with balconies that allowed students on those floors to view anyone entering the school. 

"I have pre-calc first period," Sarah complained, "the stats third period!"

"That's what you get for doing Algebra 1 in ninth grade," Sydney replied, taking her gloves off and stuffing them into her jacket pocket. 

"I have economics first," Allison told the group.

"I have study hall," Cassidy began, "and it's honors so I'm in cafeteria if you guys want to visit me on your bathroom break."

"Yeah I have art, but Mr. Woodlock doesn't care how long we use the bathroom," Sydney said to Cassidy. 

"See you guys at lunch!" Sarah called out, walking up the stairs to get to the math wing. Cassidy marched forward towards the crowds of people to arrive at the cafeteria and sign in in a timely fashion.

*****

Elizabeth and Charlie had first period together. Senior-College English. Their teacher, Mr. Andrews was a strange character. Some days, class was normal. Other days, all hell broke loose. 

"You finish the essay last night?" Elizabeth asked her best friend. Despite being American born, and being surrounded by Americans, a hint of a British accent could still be heard in Elizabeth's voice. 

"Yeah. Twenty-five pages, single spaced," Charlie answered as they entered the third floor classroom. Elizabeth looked at her friend in awe. 

"How. How can you even do that?"

"I wrote two pages and a half pages a day."

"You need to slow down," Elizabeth said as the duo sat down at their desks. The were sat at the center of the row, but farthest to the left because that was up against the wall with the windows. One of the windows was open, and the cold air was blowing into the classroom. 

Elizabeth wasn't affected by the cold because she was wearing a thick, pink sweater and tights because there was no way she could get away with wearing a skirt and not be freezing. Charlie was, as usual, wearing a flannel. In comparison, Oswald was wearing cargo shorts and a t-shirt, shivering in his seat despite being on the other side of the room, far from the window. 

Mr. Andrews entered the classroom holding his brown, leather briefcase. Having set the briefcase down on the his desk, he started writing on the whiteboard.

**Essays Due Today**

**Checklist**

**1\. Bibliography**

**2\. MLA Formatting**

**3\. At Least Five Pages**

**4\. Grammar and Spelling**

**5\. Proper Citations**

Elizabeth spent two hours the night prior working on her essay, ensuring that she met every requirement on the checklist. Mr. Andrews hammered the checklist into their minds. She needed a good grade on the essay.

"Now," Mr. Andrews began, "I hope you met all this criteria, because your essays are due right now. Not at the end of class, not in five minutes, now."

He began to walk around the classroom, collecting the essays from class. Finally, he arrived at Charlie and Elizabeth.

"Charlie?"

"Here you go," Charlie replied, handing him her essay. The twenty-five paged beast surprised the fifty-five year old teacher.

"Damn," he muttered, "I think you broke the record."

"Twenty-five pages, not including the three page bibliography."

"Yup, you won. Elizabeth, how about you?" 

Elizabeth handed him her essay. He glanced over the first page and placed it on top of the pile. After returning to his desk, he placed them down, staring at them.

"Hm. Okay. I really don't want to grade this, so you all get a one hundred."

The entire class cheered.

"Now, we're going outside. Because, it's cold out. And in order to get that one hundred, you have to come outside with me. Those who don't want to get cold and want a seventy instead, stay inside."

The entire class stood up except for Kenny. Mr Andrews led the Seniors out the front door of Hurricane High and around to the right side of the school. A basketball court stood on the right side, directly outside of the cafeteria. However, Mr. Andrews didn't take them to the basketball court, he kept them walking.

"It's cold out!" Oswald complained. 

"What did I tell you?" Mr Andrews asked, "you go out in the cold if you want a one hundred."

Elizabeth pulled her hands up into her sleeves, trying to warm them up. Charlie buttoned her flannel. The class finally came to a stop at the tennis court. 

"Sit down," Mr Andrews ordered. 

*****

Cassidy say alone at a table against the window in the cafeteria, her MacBook Pro sitting on the table in front of her. Listening to mumble-rap through her AirPods. She was typing away working on her Economics project. Cassidy’s father wanted each of his children to have the highest GPAs they could possibly muster, and pitted them against each other. For awhile, Cassidy and Elaine had to compete for top spot, which soured their relations. Horribly. However after Elaine left to attend Yale, they slowly rebuilt their relationship.

“Hey!”

Cassidy looked up, Sydney was standing in front of her holding a cupcake. She set it down onto the table, “for you.”

“Thanks,” she replied, grabbing the white-frosted rainbow sprinkle crowned chocolate cupcake. Sydney sat down across from her and pulled out her phone.

“Where’d you get this from?”

“Mr. Woodlock gave out cupcakes his wife made.”

Cassidy took a bite of the sugar-filled delight. The frosting felt like sand on her tongue, but in a good way? I don’t know how to describe cupcake frosting okay!

“That’s fucking good.”

“I know right. His wife made them, I think she’s taking a cooking class at the community college and wanted use to taste test them.”

“Lucky man,” Cassidy replied, taking another bite of the cupcake. She set the half eaten delight down onto the napkin it came on and returned to typing.

“What’re you working on.”

“My novel.”

“You’re writing a book?”

“No it’s my economics project, but it feels like I’m writing a novel!”

“Yeah, Ms. Linthort is a bitch when it comes to projects. Actually, just a bitch in general. Last week she gave an entire class detention because TJ tried to sharpen his pencil during lecture.”

“And no one stepped in and said, hey maybe we shouldn’t be letting her do that?”

“Not that I know of, although it could have happened.”

“Cupcakes!”

Cassidy and Sydney turned to find Sarah standing at the right edge of their table. The left edge being up against the window.

“My cupcake!” Cassidy hissed, swiping it. She devoured the remaining half within seconds.

“Okay then. Woah, what’s happening out there?”

Sydney and Cassidy turned to where Sarah had pointed, a class of at least twenty were dancing on the tennis court.

“Mr. Andrews is high again,” Cassidy joked.

“Yeah, I think he actually is this time,” Sydney replied.

Mr. Andrews stood in the center of the court, spinning in circles and flailing his arms into the air, the class was running in circles around him doing the Macarena.

“I think he’s gone mad.”

“He went mad years ago.”

“What the fuck!” Peter Moont yelled looking out the window.

“Mr. Moont, that language is prohibited on school premises, holy fuck.”

The entirety of Cassidy’s Honor Study Hall, including visitors and wandering teachers congregated near the window. Soon enough, Principal Renner entered the cafeteria holding her morning coffee while also carrying her briefcase. Cassidy had noticed a strange uptick in teachers with briefcases in the recent weeks. Back to the topic at hand, she almost didn’t see the commotion until Mr. Cox called her over.

“Ann you need to see this,” he called out.

“What?”

“I think Andrews has gone mad.”

“He went mad years ago, oh dear god.”

“I don’t even know what to call this,” Miss Young snickered, “you should have fired him years ago.”

“Well I’m about to,” Principal Renner declared, marching towards the exit door that led from the cafeteria to the basketball court. Everyone watched as she began screaming at Mr. Andrews.

“Goddammit Roger! This is the fifth time this year you’ve shown up high! Marijuana is still illegal in Utah! You’re subjugating these students to freezing temperatures for your own personal benefits! Get the fuck off of school premises and never return you hear me Roger. You’re lucky if you get another teaching job again!”

“Damn,” Mr. Cox muttered.

"It's not my fault this is who I am. Maybe you should be taking this up with god!"

"Roger. Get the fuck off of the school premises immediately, or I'm calling the police."

"Fuck you bitch!"

Mr. Edwards ran off towards the forest singing 'You're Welcome' from Moana. The class that he had abandoned look around in confusion. 

"Come on, I'm taking you back to class," Principal Renner said, leading the class back into the school through the cafeteria. Cassidy noticed that Charlie and Elizabeth had been in that class.

"Wow," Sarah said, "just wow."

"That's Hurricane for you," Cassidy replied, sitting back down. 

*****

“That show just keeps getting dumber,” Susie laughed, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“And that’s not the worst part,” Julia continued, “they renewed it for a third season!”

“Thirteen Reason Why needs to die just like the main character,” Charlie said setting down her milk carton.

Charlie, Elizabeth, Susie, Jessica, Julia, Anna, and Carlton were sitting at one of the round tables in the lunchroom. Julia was the only one of the group with the patience and tolerance to sit through the show, and was explaining to her friends.

"Netflix is a cesspool of garbage now," Carlton complained, "they're a shadow of their former self."

"Not as bad as Prime Video, or CBS All Access, or DC Universe," Jessica pointed out, "Even Apple is making a streaming service!"

"Why does Apple need a streaming service?" Charlie asked.

"Because Apple is Apple and Apple does what Apple wants."

"Mr. Andrews is gone," Elizabeth began, "weird to think that a teacher I've had for almost three years is just, GONE!"

"Yeah, well life is life," Anna replied, "and sometimes life brings you weed addicted English teachers."

"I am not having a good day today!" Marla declared, arriving at the table. She dumped her backpack down on the floor and sat down at the only empty seat remaining.

"What happened this time?" Jessica muttered.

"Devon broke up with me."

"And that's ten boyfriends in one month, congrats you are eligible for a free coupon at Pizza Hut," Charlie joked, scribbling on a sticky note.

"Don't slut-shame me."

"One I wasn't, and two, Marla honey I love you to pieces but you can't keep doing this," Charlie told her. 

"I can and I will. I've got my eyes on someone new?"

"Who?" Jessica asked annoyed.

"I'm not saying, because I don't want to feel obligated to ask him to the dance."

"I guarantee no one here is going to pressure you to ask him to the dance," Jessica replied, "honestly, we don't give a shit about your love life."

"Well, glad to see you're supportive."

"More supportive than your bra," Jessica muttered under her breath. Marla gasped and promptly slapped Jessica on the head.

"Fuck you."

"Guys!" Carlton snapped, "or girls in this case. Stop! No one wants to hear your petty squabbles right now."

"Uh!" Charlie groaned, looking down at the notification sitting on her phone screen.

"What?" Elizabeth asked, concerned.

"John is getting so annoying. So clingy, he always wants to know where I am, and if I'm out, with who and what I'm wearing."

"Girl that's just creepy," Anna said to Charlie, "I'd dump his ass."

"Yeah, why should he care about what you're wearing?" Marla asked. 

"Yeah but we have four years of history together and I don't want to flush that down the toilet over something so arbitrary."

"Speaking of John, what are you two doing tonight?" Jessica asked, finishing a forkful of spaghetti. 

"The dance and then Cassidy's party like pretty much everyone else."

"Cool," Marla said, glaring at Charlie. Charlie smiled which caused Marla to look away from her.

"I didn't plan on going to the party, but if you're going I probably will," Susie said to Charlie.

"Wait a minute," Elizabeth said, "did we just completely ignore that less than a minute ago you said that John always wanting to know where you are and what you're wearing is arbitrary." 

"Okay yeah let's go back to that," Jessica said to the group.

"Guys, everything's fine," Charlie assured them, "you know who I am."

*****

Cassidy, Sarah, and Sydney sat at a picnic table outside on the basketball court, watching their boyfriends play basketball. Sydney's boyfriend Corey was wearing shorts and a jersey, which made Cassidy cold just thinking about it. 

"Why are we eating out here?" Cassidy asked as a gust of freezing wind smashed against the trio. Dead leaves danced around the basketball court, forming a small tornado.

"Because Corey wants an audience," Sydney answered. They weren't eating the schools food, Sarah had used her Senior Privileges to get Chick-Fil-A for the trio. 

"Their fries are the best warm," Sarah declared, biting into a warm fry. 

"They're also good cold," Sydney replied.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"You heard me," Sydney said, grabbing her sandwich with her gloved hands.

"You're still wearing gloves," Sarah muttered.

"It's still cold out." 

"That's still not an excuse. Hold a burger if your hands are cold." 

"My burgers getting cold."

"Good."

"Can you two stop?"

"Fine," Sydney and Sarah pouted. Cassidy continued to enjoy the savory taste of her chicken nuggets. 

"Sydney!" Corey called out, "toss me a nugget!"

"Get your own!"

"Your mean," Corey complained, joining the girls at the picnic table.

"Come on Cassidy, give me a nugget."

"No."

"Please."

"My nuggets!" Cassidy hissed, snatching the box of nuggets from the table.

"You're way too defensive of your food," Sarah noted. 

"It's my food! If you wanted some, you should have gotten some."

"Anyways, you guys ready for tonight?" Corey asked. He had left Zakk and Levi to play on their own.

"Yeah, I have more things I need to prepare at my house first. I set up most of it last night but some things still need to be done."

"You're parents were okay with that?" Corey asked. 

"My parents are in Salt Lake City."

"They just, leave you alone in a mansion for weeks on end?"

"Yeah."

"And they don't see a problem with that?"

"No."

"Damn." 

"Yeah, it gets kind of lonely. But, hey. I have a mansion to myself. That's got to count for something."

"I guess," Sarah said, "back to the party. This is our last Homecoming party!"

"Oh yeah," Sydney remembered, "that's right. This is our last Homecoming, and then we graduate."

Cassidy was excited to graduate. She could finally move out, and not have to deal with her parents anymore. Her father was strict, but it was his way of showing love. Her mother on the other hand, was a toxic person to live with. It wasn't out of character for her mother to destroy things in the house in anger. Cassidy had to replace multiple laptops because of her mother, which made her even more thankful for iCloud. 

Cassidy was thankful for one thing her Mom gave her, her hair. Cassidy's hair was perfect, and it was all thanks to genetics. Wavy, dark glossy black that was naturally soft as a cloud. Well, Cassidy had never felt a cloud but she assumed they were as soft as her hair. 

Her mother had also given her blue eyes. Elaine had inherited their father's dominant brown, but Cassidy was thankful that she lucked out with her mothers. She hated brown eyes, the were too boring for her liking. She would have also liked to have green eyes like Elizabeth, but it didn't matter that much. 

However, for everything good related to her mother, there were a thousand bad things. Her mother's temper, as hinted at prior, was short. When her fuse was lit, fifty megatons of raw power came bursting out in seconds. Every conversation with her involved yelling, hitting, smashing, and destruction. Her mother was fragile, and egotistical. She was jealous of her daughters, but more so Cassidy. Elaine was better than her yes, but not nearly as much as Cassidy. Better looking, more liked, better personality, and more developed. 

Back to the topic at hand, graduation was Cassidy's one way ticket to freedom. Her father had already pledged to foot the bill to any school she attended, and her GPA and SAT scores were high enough that any school would accept her. She applied to every single big named college that was far away from Hurricane.

She was never coming back.

*****

Final period was Charlie's least favorite class. AP Modern Government. Instead of having Economics first list most Seniors, she had Modern Government instead. They way Hurricane High worked was that for the first half of the school year, a student would have one and then during the second half they'd have the other one. 

Not only did she dislike the class, but she didn't know anyone in it. Everyone who was in it was someone she didn't want to be near with a sixty-five and a half foot pole with a twelve inch metal spike at the end. 

The teacher, Mrs. Radcliffe was hellbent on getting Charlie to make a friend in the class, Charlie realised that she had caught onto her lack of social interactions. Now, she was forced to sit next to a different student every class (which was every other day) until she found someone she could be friends with. That class, she had to sit next to Marcus Browne. 

Marcus had long hair, really long hair and a big bushy beard. All of which was blonde. His hair was as rough as sandpaper, felt like straw and smelt of onions. He was obsessed with anime, a medium of entertainment Charlie had sworn she would never indulge in. Marcus hadn't caught onto her disinterest, as he kept trying to start conversations about it.

**(Authors note, I don't know a single thing about anime so everything that is said from the point forward about anime is completely wrong probably)**

"And in season three, Goku became super-duper seven hundred times pi saiyan and killed the evil train!" Marcus explained to an uncaring Charlie, who was just trying to get through the boring class without killing him or Mrs. Radcliffe. 

"Yeah that's fascinating Marcus," Charlie mutterd, trying to keep up with what Mrs. Radcliffe was saying about congress. Her concentration was split between note-taking, listening to Mrs. Radcliffe, processing what she was saying, and thinking about how annoying Marcus was.

"And of course the trainlets weren't going to let him get away with that so they went up into the mountains to train..."

"Marcus!"

Mrs. Radcliffe turned from the whiteboard to face the blonde weeb and address him.

"Stop talking during lecture!"

"Sorry Mrs. Radcliffe."

The class snickered, except for Charlie, who was using the opportunity to get caught up in her note taking. For fifteen straight minutes, silence. An oasis in the center of a scorching hot desert, a well deserved break after a long grueling workout. Silence! Marcus had actually listened to the teacher and didn't start talking again.

However what he did next, Charlie found even worse and more annoying. 

"Now, many of you may have saw the news, the House of Representatives has officially opened an Impeachment Inquiry Laurie Gold as of last night. But, that doesn't mean that if they vote to impeach that she gets removed from office. A lot of people think that's the case. That's not, she'll only get removed from office if the Senate votes to convict. And sixty-seven senators have to vote guilty in order for her to, well be guilty."

Charlie knew that, and decided not to add it to her notes. The entire spiel on impeachment was information she already knew, so she took the time to rest her hand from the aggressive writing she had been doing. As she exercised her hand, she noticed from the corner of her eye that Marcus was staring at her.

Staring at her chest.

 _"Fucking creep,"_ she thought. After thinking about it for less than five seconds, she realised that he did in fact seem like the type of person that would do that, and then blame society when he gets called out on it. _"He's an incel."_

The entire class was on and off glances from Marcus, but she ignored him, knowing that next class she'd be sitting next to someone different and hopefully never having to deal with him again. 

*****

Mr. Cox had given Cassidy's Honors Economics class a free period because they all turned in their projects in the first five minutes, and they were all up to standard. Cassidy was using the period to finalize the party plans. Anthony Cronton had agreed to handle the music, but Cassidy still needed to set it up. She also needed to make a lot of the food, because she was going to treat her guests nicely. Cooked meals for everyone! 

She also need to buy some more things at the store that she did not have, which he had listed out neatly onto into her notebook. Cassidy's handwriting was something to envy, perfection. The way she manipulated the graphite to form picture perfect letters and words was pleasing to ones eyes. 

"So, everything ready for tonight?" Anna Cooke asked. 

"Almost everything, there's still things to be done," Cassidy answered, looking up from her notebook.

"Well if you need an extra set of hands I'm available."

"Thanks Ann."

"Charlie and her friends are coming tonight by the way."

"Cool."

"Didn't you use to hate them?"

"I did, but then I realised I was being a pretentious bitch and stopped."

"Ah. Well I'm glad. They're a fun group to hang out with."

"I don't doubt that."

Cassidy loved Anna's outfit. She was wearing a beige colored utility jacket with skinny jeans and shining brown, and I can't believe I'm going to write this word, mother-fucking booties. What a dumb fucking word. I stole this outfit from Old Navy so just look this shit up if you want to know what any of this looks like. 

Anna's blonde hair was pulled back behind her head, not in a ponytail, but in a natural flow, and she wore small, light-grey round glasses. Cassidy had a pair of fake eye-glasses that she liked to wear with certain outfits because they matched well. When you're monthly spending budget is ten-thousand, you really don't give a shit. 

"Hey Mr. Cox!"

Cassidy and Anna turned their heads to see Cassidy's boyfriend Levi standing in the doorway. Mr. Cox laughed at the senior.

"Welcome Levi, what brings you here today?" the sixty-five year old teacher asked. His voice was beginning to show hints of rasps. 

"Just came to visit."

"Well, we're having a free period so stay as long as you want." 

Levi walked towards Cassidy and Anna and sat down with them. 

"Working on party stuff?" Levi asked Cassidy.

"Yup."

"Tonight is gonna be fun," Levi commented, "I heard the Silver Bell team is planning on showing up."

"They better not," Anna replied, "they're the worst."

"Yeah no kidding."

Silver Bell was Hurricane's main rival. And because of that, they both were less than enjoyable to each other. Cassidy had counted on them trying to show up, with most of the football players and cheerleaders being Seniors at that point. She knew this was their last chance, so she set up some precautions. She hired Bryce Anderson and Derrick Waters as bouncers to ensure no one of questionable school residency showed up, and the had set it up so that her iPad Pro could view the entire Reynolds home security system. 

"Well," Anna began, "let's hope they don't show." 

*****

Marcus was the worst person Charlie had sat next to. The second worst was Isabelle. She tore out pages from Charlie's notebook, most of which had notes on them, to eat the paper. She ate, a lot of paper. Paper was her version of crack. She carried packs of paper to eat, Charlie had never seen her eat real food. She ate paper at lunch. 

Marcus was the worst however. Everything he did annoyed Charlie. Which made the class last longer. Every minute, Charlie glanced at either the clock or her Apple Watch, hoping for the bell to ring. Her freedom was coming. 

"I know we didn't get to cover everything I said we would, but I think we covered enough. Your homework is to write a one page paper on Laurie Gold's high-crimes and misdemeanors."

With that, the bell rung. Charlie packed her backpack quickly, hoping to escape the classroom in a timely fashion. She through her packed backpack over her shoulder and marched onward and out the door. 

"Charlie!"

She turned around to see that Marcus had followed her. She rolled her eyes and stopped.

"So, I uh... wanted to know if you'd go to the dance with me tonight." 

Charlie fought as hard as possible to not laugh.

"I have a boyfriend," she revealed, "and besides, I'm not even going to the dance I'm going to Cassidy's party."

"Oh."

"Well, I have to go," she said, walking away as fast as she could possibly walk. As she stepped out into the cold outside, Elizabeth and Susie found her. 

"Charlie!" Elizabeth called out, "how was the hell-class?"

"Horrible, I had to sit next to Marcus."

"Damm."

"And you're not going to believe this. He asked me to the dance." 

"Really?" Susie asked, laughing.

"Yeah."

"You've been with John for four years how did he not know?"

"I don't know."

"That's, that's funny."

"Yeah. Well, I've got to get going," Charlie said, "I want to get some homework done before the game."

"See you tonight!" Susie called out as Charlie walked off. She waved Susie and Elizabeth goodbye.

While Charlie was walking away, getting her music set up, Marcus stood alone on the back steps of the school, staring down at the picture of Charlie he had saved in his phones photo library. A single tear dropped from his facee as he pressed the delete button. Placing his phone in his jacket pocket, he lookede towards a group of friends who were walking home from the backside of the school.

"She'll pay. They'll all pay."

*****************************************

Dr. Charlotte Emily sat in the waiting room of the New Harmony Police Station, patiently waiting for anyone to give her an update on the situation. She had begun to worry that she had acted to hastily, and that she was wrong about Robert Miller Sr. However, at the same time, the longer it took for an update the more sure she was. Thinking about the situation must have created a dozen or more grey hairs in her already graying brown head of hair. 

In all her years of experience, she had only needed to deal with the a case involving the police once, and hoped that she would never have to do it again. And yet, here she was, back again. 

"Doctor Emily!"

Dr. Emily turned towards the door that led into the greater area of the police station. One of the Sheriff's Deputies stood, holding it open.

"You're wanted out back," he revealed, ushering for her to follow him. She stood up from her seat and followed him down the white hallway. White brick walls, white tiled floors, and a white popcorn ceiling. She shuddered at the eeriness. 

At the end of the long hallway stood a brown black metal door, which the Deputy unlocked using the keys on his belt. He then ushered for her to enter. A wooden table stood alone in the center of the room. On the side closest to the door were two stools and on the other side was just one. 

"You're on the side with just the one," the Deputy explained. He then exited the room, locking the door behind him. Dr. Emily saw a large mirror sitting in the center of the wall on her left. She knew it was a one sided window, and that someone was staring at her through it. However, she had to at least pretend she was alone. She adjusted her thick brown cardigan and repositioned her glasses. Staring towards the door, thinking through everything that she knew, and everything that she had theorized. Soon enough, the Deputy would return and question her. 

On cue, the Deputy and a tall african-american man in a black leather suit jacket that extended to his knees. He sat down onto one of the stools, with the Deputy sitting the his left, and Dr. Emily's right. 

"Doctor," the man greeted, "I'm Detective Daniel Craig of the Hurricane Police Department. I was, called in due to the nature of this case."

"A Hurricane detective? How large is this."

"Doctor, Robert Miller has a troubled past that only a hardened detective such as Detective Craig could be assigned to," the Deputy explained. 

"How did you come to that conclusion with just my phone call?" Dr. Emily asked, curious.

"We didn't. Now, we're the ones supposed to be asking the questions here. How long have you known the Miller twins?" 

"I've been their guidance counselor since they were in first grade, which was about four years ago. Albeit we had limited interactions, as this was the first official appointment I had with either of them." 

The Detective nodded his head, "and how often do you encounter situations such as this?"

"I've dealt with three other domestic abuse cases before, one of which I testified in court for."

"And what was that case about, the one you testified for that is."

"That was back when I was at the high-school, a fifteen year old girl had come to me seeking advice, which later led into a reveal that her father had been physically abusing her and her younger brother. Her mother and I presented a case to the authorities, and from there I didn't have much to do with the case until the court called me to testify."

"Would you consider yourself experienced enough to judge a domestic abuse case with little evidence."

"Are you questioning these kids claims?"

"No doctor, but I want to know. How did you come to your conclusion, and can you better explain it." 

Dr. Emily's conclusion wasn't just based on Jake's appointment. She had immediately demanded to speak with his twin sister Jenny, who had provided a heart braking testimony to the middle-aged guidance counselor. One so emotionally impactful that she sat at her desk for nearly ten minutes in silence before calling the police.

She had written everything in a notebook that she had purchased from the office supply store for this exact purpose. The day after Delilah had died, Dr. Emily had purchased it. She knew Robert Miller, not well, but she had enough of a reason to suspect he was involved in Delilah's death. Most people in New Harmony suspected the same, suicide by rat poison was the strangest and most bizarre suicide choice she had seen in her entire life. 

She had watched Jake's grades slip, Jenny's had slipped at the beginning of the school year. She had compared her fourth grade and fifth grade reports, and the differences were night and day. Jake's decline was much slower in comparison, which had led her to believe that whatever happened was both affecting Jenny more, and first. What she had believed was happening was that he was sexually and physically abusing Jenny, and doubled down after Delilah's and that Jake was caught in the crossfire. She didn't have very piece, and what she did have was very limited. But she had pieces, theories, fragments of the whole story.

"I spoke to the twins. Used my knowledge and came to a judgement based off of that." 

"What did they tell you?" the detective asked, "they haven't been cooperating with us."

"I wonder why."

"Answer the question."

"Jake was less, open. The most I could get out of him was that he had created a group of fictional characters that fought child abusers. Jenny on the other hand."

Dr. Emily froze, thinking over Jenny's appointment. Everything she had said clung to her with razor blades. 

"She told me that Robert had, sexually abused her. Hit her, hit her mother, hit her brother, killed their dog, made their lives a living hell."

She tried to say it as quickly as possible, the faster she said it the less time she had to spend saying it.

Detective Craig looked at her, writing on his clipboard something that she couldn't make out. The Deputy looked over the Detective's shoulder to see what he writing, and nodded his head despite the Detective being unable to see his head-nod. 

"Doctor, I have one final question for you and then you're free to go. What kind of a person is Robert Miller? I'm not from this town, and Deputy Bennett here doesn't know him too awful well."

"He is a vile man," the doctor had begun, ignoring any dignity she previously had, "everything he does is with malicious intent for as many people as possible. He's been arrested in this town three times, which I'm sure you know based on his file. He was a cheater, caught in the act by Walter Wallace, the towns butcher. And based on what I've learned today, a child abuser and paedophile. Child rapist, wife killer, animal abuser, arsonist..."

"That's enough doctor, you're free to go. We likely will not be needing you any further," Deputy Bennett said, stopping her rant from continuing. 

"What about the twins?"

"They're with Officer Parker being ready to be moved into Foster Care," the Deputy answered.

"No," Dr. Emily declared, "you will not put them into this country's god-awful foster care system. I will foster them."

"Doctor Emily, we can't just do that."

"Why not?"

"Because there's paperwork, legalities. Home inspections, background checks."

"Whatever it takes."

"Go speak to Martha at the front desk, she'll get you filled in on everything you need. But I highly doubt you'll succeed in this."

"I have to try."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was long, and only just part 1.  
> So, why did I give you this huge thing instead of getting right to the game and party? Because this is necessary. So much time skipping has been done that I haven't been able to properly show the lives of each of these characters. Build character dynamics outside of Elizabeth and Charlie, set up stuff for part 2, and cement the world.  
> Part 2 will be big, not just in size but in scope. Lot's of moving pieces, lot's of reveals, lot's of set-ups for Story 5. 
> 
> Now, why did this take so long to be released?  
> Because this is version 5. This is the fifth version of this I've written. The others have all been abandoned because I just did not like them. Way too complicated, way too boring. And everytime I finished a version and realised I hated it, the reason always came back to NightHawk. I originally had a plan for it, that after I tried to execute I realised it was a bad plan.  
> So I retconned that out of the story. The retcon? Charlie blocked it from her phone with the program she created. That's pretty much it. I'm ignoring it, and it will not be mentioned at all going forward. 
> 
> Now, for something else. I'm extending this to six stories and an epilogue. Why? Because I have an idea for a story that absolutely can not be the finale. So, after I get part 2 of this story up, it's full steam ahead on that. 
> 
> Basically three of the stories take place in the same school year because I have some plot-threads and character arcs that will take more than what I originally had. And yes this time I've thought them out further than just a quick three sentences on Evernote.


	5. Story 4: Homecoming Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bomb threat, sneaking out, and partying. Elizabeth's life continues to throw new obstacles at her, and her bad luck has seeped to Charlie and Cassidy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sheer amount of television teenage drama I crammed into one chapter...

“Anyone home!” Charlie called out, stepping through the front door of her house.

After nearly thirty seconds of no reply, she began to take off her jacket. Hanging it on the coat hanger, she kicked off her boots as well. Then, she ripped her bra out from under her shirt and pulled it through her sleeve, tossing it on the bottom stair. A relief only women would understand. The tv remote sat on the coffee table, making it easier for her to turn on the tv, which was still set on the news channel from that morning.

“ _We know that the bomb threat was called in by a student, but the student who has done so has not been identified. It is likely they called from a burner phone.”_

“Oh my god,” Charlie said, jumping onto the couch.

**BREAKING: BOMB THREAT CALLED INTO HURRICANE HIGH**

_“For those just tuning in, an unidentified person called in a bomb threat to tonight's Homecoming game. Police have swept both the school and football field and Hurricane’s own Detective Larson is pursuing the culprit.”_

_“It is likely the Homecoming game has been cancelled.”_

_“_ Jesus Christ…” Charlie muttered, snatching her phone from the coffee table. Nearly 200 notifications.

She glanced at them. Most from the group-chat, a few from her parents.

After assuring her parents that she didn’t call in the threat, she then pursued the group chat.

 **Susie:** At least we won't get out ass kicked by Silver Bell

 **Jessica:** Oh yes because that's the most important part of this!

 **Julia:** Is the party still happening?

 **Jessica:** Still waiting on an update from Cassidy.

 **Charlie:** So... what's happening.

 **Jessica:** Ethan Welker called in a bomb threat.

 **Charlie:** Was it actually Ethan?

 **Julia:** No but that's who probably did it.

 **Charlie:** Don't spread rumors. 

**CASSIDY TO PARTYGOERS** 🥂 **:** PARTY IS STILL HAPPENING! SPOKE TO SHERIFF BURKE.

 **ANNA TO PARTYGOERS** 🥂 **:** THE FOOTBALL TEAM HAS OFFERED TO BE SECURITY SO, DON'T BRING BOMBS!

 **Jessica:** Football players gotta have something to do. 

Charlie laughed and put her phone in her pocket. Grabbing her backpack and the bra off the bottom step she walked up to her bedroom. She had lied about wanting do get homework done, it was a Friday. Instead, she had other plans. 

She knew she would be home alone, but wanted to make sure before she fully realized these plans. If everything went to plan, no one would be home until four, nearly an hour and a half of time. She stepped into the bathroom and turned on the bathtub. Then, she walked to the linen closet at the end of the hallway and grabbed a bath towel, setting it down on the floor next to the tub. She set her phone up to the speaker, and started playing her playlist of nearly a thousand songs. Shuffled of course. 

The twins had soap they used for bubble baths, which is exactly what she wanted. Pouring a larger than needed amount into the tub, she called out for Siri.

"Hey Siri, set an alarm for three-thirty!"

"Setting an alarm for three-thirty."

Finally, with everything in place, she unbuttoned her flannel pulled it over her head alongside the white t-shirt she had underneath and then tore out her belt. Dropping her jeans and panties to the floor, she stepped out of them and into the tub. Laying down, she closed her eyes and dozed off.

*********

Sitting on the couch of her large yet empty home, Cassidy Reynolds laughed. The news was still playing. No hope of finding who called in the threat, as the caller was likely also using a voice changer making the gender also unidentifiable. No near locations showed burner phone sales for the past sixty days. 

Cassidy didn't care much about the threat, she knew it was fake. She just cared about the party, it was her last opportunity to throw a Homecoming party. Without the dance or the game, it left those who didn't attend the party without anything to do. She knew what that meant. Higher turnout. Now, they were prepared but she was still worried. The football team had nothing to do and pledged to be security, but if the police showed up for a check that could spell disaster.

She had spoke with Chief Burke, who assured her that everything would be okay as long as they were extra mindful of suspicious activity. 

Her phone rang.

Snatching it from the other cushion she checked the caller idea. Her father was calling. 

"Hi," she began, worried he may be coming home.

"Hi Cassidy, just checking in. I heard about the bomb threat on the news."

"Oh yeah, just some special-ed kid at school thinking it's funny."

"I see, well just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Well I'm good," She answered.

"Good. Love you."

"Love you too."

She had noted that her mother wasn't mentioned nor partaked in the call. Didn't mind her though, she was used to her mother neglecting her. 

"She's probably fucking one of the hotel staffers," Cassidy muttered returning to watching the news. It wasn’t a baseless assumption, her mother was infamous in the town for having sex with anything that moved.

After five minutes, Anna called.

"Hi!' Cassidy exclaimed, answering in a hurry.

"Hey, just wanted to check in and make sure everything was good for tonight."

"It is," she answered.

"I'm on my way over actually, chess club got cancelled," she revealed laughing.

"Makes sense."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Cassidy stood up from the couch and perused the house, making sure that everything was in place before Anna arrived. Anna was very organized, and didn’t function well when things weren’t done properly, and when things weren’t done on time.

After ensuring that everything was alright, she went to the kitchen. The Reynold’s kitchen was probably larger than most houses, which Cassidy enjoyed, because she loved to bake. She grabbed poured water into the tea kettle and placed it onto the stove top. Anna loved green tea, so Cassidy thought she would make some for her.

Once the pot squeezed, she prepared two mugs of green tea and placed them both onto coasters sitting on the glass coffee table of the living room. The living room itself was covered by just glass on three of the walls. The fourth wall connected into the kitchen. The glass peaked out into the backyard, which was well taken care of. Millions of dollars allowed you to do such things.

**DINGDONG DINGDONG INONGDONGIGgriigeiei DOOR BELL NOISES!**

She stood up, still wearing her tall black leather heeled boots with jeans and a thin black sweater. Her wavy black hair, which now stretched halfway down her back blend into the sweater. The sounds of her heels clicking on the hardwood floor echoed throughout the mega-mansion as she approached the door. Once she finally arrived at the door, pressed her finger print onto the pad next to the door unlocking it. Security technology created by Afton Robotics, which could potentially be renamed to Afton Industries as they branched out farther beyond robotics. 

"Hey!" Cassidy called, out pulling Anna into a hug.

"Uh, you wouldn't believe how bad traffic is. They shut down 5th and 9th because of the bomb threat so everyone was congested to Smith Street. I decided to go around the town the long way."

"I can only imagine."

"Whoever did this will have to answer to only one person, the Great Empress Cassidy."

Anna had this weird thing of calling Cassidy the Great Empress Cassidy. Cassidy enjoyed the nickname, it stroked her ego more than other nicknames. It also made helped her anxiety when she felt in charge and in control, and Great Empresses are always in charge and always in control.

"Sydney and Sarah will probably be over in an hour or so, depending on how things line up in the schedule," Cassidy told Anna as they walked back to the living room. The two of them both sat down on the couch. 

"I made tea," Cassidy explained cheerfully, "because I was bored and wanted some tea." 

"Green?" Anna asked, tilting her head.

"Of course Ann. I knew you were coming so I said 'Ann's gonna want green tea, let's make green tea.'"

Anna laughed and adjusted her small round glasses. She sipped her tea slowly, and then leaned back to watch the news. Cassidy studied Anna's body movements, and copied her. 

_"We are still trying to track down the perpetrator of the bomb threat, however efforts prove fruitless and police now believe the perp used a voice changer to make themselves have an eastern-European accent."_

"A voice changer. That complicates things," Anna commented sarcastically.

"We don't have anyone from eastern Europe in Hurricane do we?"

"Not that I know of, and we probably don't have one in New Harmony either. Who moves to Utah from east Europe and choses New Harmony over Hurricane or Salt Lake CIty?"

Anna set her mug back down onto its coaster, "I'm hot."

She removed her beige utility jacket and draped it over the back of the couch. Underneath, she wore a burgundy long sleeve tee. Without the jacket, Cassidy noticed a new watch that she had never seen Anna wear before.

"New watch?"

"Yeah, my aunt got it for me. Found it in, get this, eastern Europe!"

"Which country?" Cassidy laughed.

"Poland."

"Not as unstable as the others."

"The Balkans, oh the Balkans," Anna muttered, sipping her tea still.

*********

Marla stepped out from the driver's seat of her 2003 Honda Civic. Many were surprised when they learned Marla's car was sixteen years old, many don't think cars that old could work. As she walked down the sidewalk, she shivered. Cold temperatures, high winds, and an underprepared woman. Instead of wearing pants and a jacket, she wore a skirt and crop topop, an outfit she regretted as the wind blew in just a way that her ass flashed a young boy walking behind her for a moment. 

Her destination was a suburban home, positioned on the side of fifth street, that led directly into downtown. She didn't want to park out front of the house however as to not drum suspicion. She removed her phone from her bra (which she had to use as a pocket because skirts don't have proper pockets) and texted the resident of her arrival.

 **Marla:** I'm here 🥵💦

 **My King** 👑🥵🍆 **:** Doors unlocked

She walked up the stone pathway to the wooden porch, and turned the door knob.

"It's fucking cold out!" Marla called out, closing the door behind her. 

"Well it is October," John replied, stepping down the stairs positioned in the entryway. Marla leaned in to kiss him.

"Ready for the party!?" Marla squealed excitedly.

"I would be, if you would hash out a plan with me," he answered.

"Oh yeah, the _plan!"_ she mocked, shaking her fingers.

"I'm being serious! I can't just go to the party with you, Charlie's going to be there."

"John just dump her!" Marla pleaded, "the last guy I did this with I dumped because it was too much to keep a secret."

"Marla," John began, "it won't have to be a secret for long. I've been faking this abusive slip so Charlie will break up with me."

"Oh so you don't actually care where she is and what she's wearing?"

"No I could care less," John replied, kissing her again, "hey it's too cold for crop-tops" he continued shaking her shirt.

"I don't care."

"Well then," he said, pulling it off of her, "you don't need it in here."

Marla giggled, and walked into the kitchen now shirtless. John tossed her shirt onto the couch. They would be alone until well into the night, as his Mom worked the noon to midnight shift. 

"What should I eat?"

"Leftovers a plenty, just pick what you like," John answered turning on the tv, "you see the news?"

"No," Marla answered, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Someone called in a bomb threat so they cancelled the football game."

"Damn," Marla replied, heating up a bowl of spaghetti.

As she waited for the microwave to heat up the golden noodles, she walked back into the living room and sat on John's lap, kissing him once again. 

"You can't keep faking sick," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him.

"I just can't look Charlie in the eye."

"Give me your phone, I'll break up with her for you."

"No! Do you know how bad it is to break up with someone over text. Not going to happen," he protested. She ignored his protest, feeling his growing erection rub against her groin. 

"John, I know you want to be with me," she whispered, kissing his neck, "just take the plunge." 

"I want to," he replied, "I really do."

"If you don't want to do it over text, then do it at the party."

"Fine," he whispered, unclasping her bra, "and then it will be just you and me, smooth sailing."

She tossed her bra aside, "just you and me."

*********

**BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP**

Charlie shot up, awake and aware. A full hour of sleep had been gained in the bathtub. Now, her fingers and toes had wrinkled, the soap had dissipated, and she was covered in its residue. But she did get a good hour of sleep, and dreamed happy dreams. 

"Siri, what time is it?"

"It is four twenty p.m., you missed five waves of alarms." 

Correct: Full two hours of sleep

"Dammit!" she yelled, standing up. She pulled the plug of the drain with her big toe while turning the water back on through the shower head. Cleaning the soap residue off her body. Then, she turned off the water and stepped out onto the bath mat. 

"How did I miss five waves of alarms?" she muttered, drying herself. Once she was dry to a satisfactory degree, she wrapped the towel around her body, tying it and tightening it. 

**DING DONG DING DONG DOORBELL NOSIES!**

"What now!" she sighed. Charlie hastily cleaned up the bathroom back to acceptable levels and went downstairs. Peaking through the one way glass of the front door, she could see a delivery man standing on the other side. It was likely an important package if he needed her to sign, so she would probably not get it if she got dressed first. 

"Hi," she said, opening the door. The man's eyes said everything as hey surveyed her body with shock, and small hint of pleasure.

 _"Great mailman Markus,"_ she thought.

"Uh... excuse me ma'am but I have a package for Vanessa Emily," the delivery man, who's name tag said Paul revealed reading his clipboard. 

"I'm her daughter Charlotte," Charlie explained, "can I sign for her."

"Don't see why not, as long as you don't forge her signature."

"Aight," she replied, grabbing the clipboard.

"You're hot," he blurted out, then realised what he did.

"How old are you," he then asked asked. Charlie glared at him mid signature, which caused him to add on an extension "a precautionary measure. Adults can't sign for their parents."

"Uh-huh. Well I'm Seventeen sir so no worries about me breaking any of your rules."

"Oh," Paul replied, eyes wide with worry and fear.

"Well, there you go," she said, passing the clipboard back to him. In exchange, he passed her the sizeable package. She set the package down on to the floor next to the door, and then turned towards the mail man walking away, "and you can bet I'm filing a complaint!"

Paul didn't acknowledge her, and instead just got into his mail truck and drive off. When his truck departed, the elderly neighbor Mrs. Fitzpatrick and her entitled daughter Sheila walking their puppy were able to now see her standing in the doorway. The elderly woman glared at the towled teenager.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Fitzpatrick!" Charlie called out, waving. Her daughter glared at her as well.

She very quickly closed the door after that, and ensuring both locks were tightly fastened. Marching back upstairs, she grabbed her discarded clothes from the bathroom floor and stepped into her bedroom. Standing before her window, she dropped the towel.

Her bedroom was positioned at the back of the house, so her window faced into a forest. No one could see her.

Except for the old man, sitting on a tree branch with a camera.

The man, was wearing a full camo suit, face painted in camouflage. The branch he was sitting on was behind the tree so he could hide better, and in order to take photos he had to peak around the trunk. His original intention with the position was to take photos of the families living room and kitchen through the series of windows and large glass double door. When Charlie had stepped in front of her bedroom window and given him a full frontal. She was of course not privy to the knowledge that she was doing so, but it still happened. 

Back with our old friend Charlotte Emily, she put all of the discarded clothes back on, including the despicable bra (because her family was minutes away from coming home). Once re-dressed, she went to the website of the local post office to report Paul on her MacBook. 

"And another creep bites the dust," she whispered to herself, submitting the report. 

***rrehgjiregjiijagnhgehaieaighegihu GARAGE DOOR OPENING NOISES***

She sat up from her desk chair and made her way to the kitchen, which was connected to the garage door. In came Vanessa with Sammy and the twins.

"Hey Charlie," Vanessa greeted her daughter, setting her purse down onto the kitchen counter positioned next to the door that connected the garage to the house. 

"Hi Mom," Charlie greeted back, hugging her.

"That's crazy that someone would call in a bomb threat to a football game. People are, crazy."

"Yeah. We're trying to figure out who we think would be most likely to do it," Charlie explained, "but it's a fruitless effort."

"Leave the police work to Clay Burke," Vanessa laughed. 

"Cassidy's party is still happening though," Charlie revealed.

"I'm still not sure about letting you go," Vanessa expressed her concerns, "these highschool parties aren't very, safe or appropriate."

"The mailman isn't safe or appropriate," Charlie muttered.

"What was that?"

"I said that Cassidy keeps a tight ship," she explained. 

"I see," Vanessa replied.

"I think things will be fine."

*********

"Elizabeth," Lora began coldy, "care to explain?"

Elizabeth had just stepped through the front door, and her Mother was already bothering her. Standing in front of her, she held a piece of paper. Elizabeth snatched the paper from Lora's hand, and darted her eyes side to side, speed reading what was typed onto the paper.

"It's a behavior complaint filed by another student," Lora explained, "the guidance counselor emailed me that report."

"I've never called anyone a cunt," Elizabeth said in an attempt to defend herself.

She was lying.

The behavior complaint was filed by Allison Fitzpatrick. A friend of Cassidy, a former adversary of Elizabeth. While she and Cassidy had worked out their issues, Allison had formed new issues with her. And the two of them kept going at it each time they were together.

"Well then. Are you calling the counselor a liar? Because she is very respected within the community. She's in my tennis club."

Lora needed something to do, so she formed a tennis club.

"Well maybe the student was lying," Elizabeth reasoned.

"Yeah, I'm not buying it. You really have to think I'm dumb to get this shit pass me."

"Well, you are kind of dumb," Elizabeth replied bitterly. 

"Oh fuck you cunt," Lora screamed back, grabbing plant pot from the pedestal near the door and throwing it at Elizabeth. She covered her face with her arms, but it didn't go for her face. It hit her square in the stomach.

"Oh fuck," Elizabeth wheezed, holding her stomach, "that fucking hurt."

"Language you fucking mistake..." Lora sneered, slapping her daughter.

"Clean up the pot in a timely fashion and I may still let you go to that party."

Elizabeth struggled to move to the closet to get the broom and dust pan. Lora had thrown the potted plant with great strength. The stinging in her cheek didn't affect her nearly as much, she was used to _that._

Elizabeth stumbled herself to the closet, and grabbed the broom. Stumbling back to the potted plant, she carefully swept up each of the plants pieces onto the dustpan, and carried it to the trash can. 

"Nice work," Lora commented as her daughter passed her by, "but I believe the behavior complaint needs to be addressed more properly."

"What do you mean by that?" Elizabeth asked. Lora refused to look at her, and instead stormed up to daughter's room, with Elizabeth in hot pursuit. 

"What are you doing!" Elizabeth screamed.

Lora burst through Elizabeth's door, and started looking around. She found her daughters laptop sitting on the desk hand built by William seven years prior. 

"Looks like you won't be needing this," Lora laughed, dropping the thin laptop to the ground, then stomping on it in her large heeled brown leather boots. Elizabeth could hear the internals shatter.

"What is wrong with you!?" Elizabeth screeched.

"Good question," Lora smirked, grabbing the watch Charlie had given her for Christmas the previous year, "guess you also won't need this."

She dropped the watch to the floor, the stomped it's glass with the heel of her boot, destroying both its outer casing and internals. 

"Why are you doing this!" Elizabeth cried out.

"Because you need to be punished, and clearly violence doesn't solve _everything,"_ Lora hissed, "and you can definitely believe that you will not be going to the party tonight."

"You cunt," Elizabeth snapped.

"And that's strike three," Lora fumed, grabbing Elizabeth's statistics textbook. In a flash, Lora's arms swung the textbook through Elizabeth's face, sending her daughter straight to the floor, "hopefully this is the discipline lesson you'll need."

Now, with a throbbing headache, Elizabeth struggled to get up. As Lora stepped out of the room, all she could do was sob.

*********

"I will say Ann, you know how to and plan and organize."

Cassidy and Anna had spent the last forty minutes setting up the party, and were now taking a second tea break. 

"When I was younger, a lot of the things that happened around me were, uncontrollable. Now, I always have to have a plan and everything has to neat. It's, a problem."

"I don't see anything wrong with wanting to be neat," Cassidy replied. For reasons she did not know nor would understand, she could not stop smiling. 

"Uncontrollable need for _everything_ to be neat." 

"Oh. I see. Well if it makes you feel any better, I have an uncontrollable need to be in control at all times."

"Ah. To needing therapy!" Anna laughed, raising her mug to a toast. Cassidy accepted the proposal and the two mugs clinked, laughing alongside Anna.

"So... tonight should be interesting," Anna continued, "hopefully it's more like sophomore year and less like last year."

"Yeah, one can hope."

The previous year, almost everyone in the district and nearly two hundred outsiders attended the party, putting a strain on Cassidy's ability to control things.

"Now that we merged with New Harmony, we have nearly four hundred new people who could come, plus the people who now can't go to the dance."

"Yeah, that could be a problem," Cassidy replied, not realising how large the party could actually be, "I'll be right back."

As Cassidy stood up to leave, Anna adjusted her glasses once again. When Cassidy returned, she became intrigued while continuing to sip her second mug of tea.

"These," Cassidy began, removing a glasses case from her jeans pocket, "are the fake glasses I wear sometimes."

"I see," Anna, who wore real glasses, replied.

"And I'm thinking of wearing these tonight. Do I look good in them?"

She removed the frames from the case and put them on her face, standing up once more. Anna surveyed her. Jeans, tall black leather boots, thin black sweater, long wavy black hair, and now cheetah framed fake glasses.

 _"The complete package,"_ Anna thought.

"You look great," Anna said to her friend, "although you look good in anything you wear, you look even better with those on."

Cassidy laughed, "I wanted a second opinion, especially from someone who wears glasses."

"Take it from me, girls who wear glasses are hot..."

She realised what she said.

"As in a metaphorical sense, not saying that I'm..."

"Ann, you don't have to hide anything from me," Cassidy said softly, placing a hand on Anna's shoulder.

Tears formed in Anna's eyes.

"It's just.... so hard."

Cassidy pulled her into a tight hug.

"My dad's gone... my mom's distant, and my step-dad's an asshole."

 _"That explains the bad past,"_ Cassidy mentally noted.

"Look, who cares what they think, well actually you probably do but you shouldn't. The only person's opinion that should matter to you is your own," Cassidy whispered in Anna's ear, still hugging her tightly. She grabbed a napkin from the coffee table and wiped the tears from Anna's face. 

"You're loved," Cassidy whispered.

"I don't feel loved," she cried softly.

"Think about all of your friends, including me, obviously I'm one of your friends, we all care about you, 'love' you if you will."

"You really are the best friend a person could ask for," Anna sniffled, "but I still feel like shit."

"It takes a while," Cassidy replied, "it takes a while."

"Well I just blurted out that I think you're hot," Anna muttered, turning away from Cassidy.

"Lots of people think I'm hot, doesn't change my opinion of them."

"You have such a way with words," Anna laughed, still with tears in her eyes.

"So I've been told."

Cassidy continued to hug Anna tightly, wiping tears from her face. Knowing that one of her friends had a bad past was one thing, knowing they still had a rocky home life we're they couldn't be accepted for who they were was another thing entirely. 

***DING DONG DONGILGNEHIRJGJIEG DOORBELL NOISES***

"They're here," Cassidy whispered.

"I can't present myself like this," Anna said, still fighting back tears. 

"You can hide in one of the upstairs bathrooms until you feel better," Cassidy suggested, standing up.

"One of," Anna muttered as she stood up and walked towards the stairs.

Cassidy put her finger on the security pad and opened the door. Sydney, Allison, and Sarah all stood before her, wearing full winter gear and still shivering. 

"Welcome to casa de party," she said to her friends, ushering them inside the home before all the heat escaped. 

"So, when do people start arriving?" Allison asked. Cassidy glanced at her watch, 4:53 p.m.

"About forty minutes the first wave of people should be trickling in and I still need your guys help setting up the dj booth."

***DING DONG DONGILGNEHIRJGJIEG DOORBELL NOISES***

"That must be Terrance."

Terrance was the school's resident dj Every year, Cassidy tried to convince him to dj her party as opposed to the dance, but he couldn't be convinced. He couldn't even be bought. This year however, the dance wasn't happening which meant that he was available. Some last minute litigation from Anna was enough to convince him to dj the dance. 

"Thanks for doing this Terrance," Cassidy said to the dj as she opened the front door.

"No problem. I've got all my equipment in the van so it'll probably take me like, twenty or so minutes."

"Well take your time," Cassidy replied, walking back towards the living room, the click of her heels still echoing throughout the foyer. 

*********

As the sun fell in the sky, Elizabeth sat on her bed still wearing her black mid-heel slip ons on her feet. She didn't bother taking them off, because if she went downstairs to put them away her mom would probably stab her or something of equal severity. 

Then, she an idea egg hatched in her mind, as if it were a big warm fluffy nest. 

All it would take for her to sneak out would be to simply walk out of the house, and call Charlie for a ride. So why didn't she just do it?

"Might as well try," she said to herself. She grabbed her phone from her backpack (her mother likely forgot she even had one) and then remembered she didn't have any pockets.

"Well, I should wear something different," she sighed to herself, setting the phone down on the bed. She dropped her skirt to the floor and stepped out of it, looking for new pants. She decided on jeans, and slipped them on. She slipped her cell phone into her jean pocket and walked out of her room and towards the stairs. She noticed her mother's bedroom door was closed with the lights on.

"Perhaps a trap," Elizabeth whispered. She pressed her ear against the door to see if she could hear her mother inside.

She was in fact in the room.

Elizabeth then sneaked down the stairs. She couldn't go out the front door because her mother could hear her. Instead, she would have to go through the sliding glass door in the back. She grabbed her keys from the key tray, her jacket from the coat rack and quietly slid the door open, then quietly sliding it shut. Using the key, she locked it from the outside and dashed around the house to the front. Now, she ran down the sidewalk until she was out of sight from the house, and texted Charlie.

 **Elizabeth:** Need a ride tonight.

 **Charlie:** On my way, just about to leave the house. 

*********

Charlie stepped down the stairs of the Emily family's suburban home fully changed. Instead of a flannel, she wore a black leather jacket over a white long-sleeve tee with black skirt and her black combat boots. Her parents were cooking dinner in the kitchen and Sammy was officiating a thumb war between the twins. 

"I'm heading out!" she called out to her family. Her mother flashed a thumbs up and Sammy waved goodbye. 

She stepped into the driver seat of her 2018 Jetta and pressed the key into the ignition. She needed to make her over to Foxton Street, where the Afton's lived to pick up Elizabeth. Once she arrived to Foxton street, she found Elizabeth standing on the sidewalk shivering. She pulled the white Jetta up to her, and opened the passenger door. Elizabeth stepped into the Jetta, sitting in the passenger's seat an closing the door behind her. 

"Oh it feels good to be warm," Elizabeth said as Charlie drove off.

"It's cold out," Charlie replied, "I'd assume you'd of wanted me to pick you up at your house."

"By waiting at the end of the street, it shortened the driving time," Elizabeth lied, not wanting to admit she snuck out.

"Yeah," Charlie said skeptically. 

"So, think we're gonna get bombed?" Elizabeth asked, trying to change the subject.

"Probably," Charlie answered, pulling off of Foxton Street and onto Main Street.

"So the mailman Paul called me hot," Charlie revealed laughing, "that was an ethics complaint filed alright."

"What a weird thing to have happen," Elizabeth noted, "both Paul and Marcus. What an interesting day for you."

"I wouldn't call it interesting more so just creepy, and annoying. And of course the neighbor glared at me because I answered the door in a towel."

"Fitzpatrick?"

"Yes."

"Well, that makes sense. Allison filed a behavioral complaint against me today."

"For Tuesday?"

"Yeah, for Tuesday," Elizabeth sighed, "Mom wasn't too happy about that one."

"My Mom wasn't completely on board with me going to his, but come on I'm not going to miss this just because some special ed kid called in a bomb threat."

"I feel the same way," Elizabeth agreed, removing her phone from her pocket. Only a few notifications from group chats.

"Nice jacket," Elizabeth beamed, "I want one now."

"Get one. It's so comfortable and has ample pocket space." 

The Jetta arrived at the home of Cassidy Reynolds. Charlie immediately knew as she pulled up that parking would be a nightmare. The driveway and the sides of the road were packed with vehicles. She settled on driving beyond the home and instead parking a farther distance. 

"Uh why do we have to walk so far?" Elizabeth complained as the Jetta came to a stop.

"Oh you can walk," Charlie said to Elizabeth as she shut off the Jetta.

"Jessica and Susie are already inside, waiting for us by the entrance."

"Tell them we're on our way in."

"On it."

The two piled out of the Jetta and began their long trek to the front door. While walking, Elizabeth broke the silence.

"That's a big house, why couldn't they have a big driveway?"

"Oh would you stop complaining."

"No."

"Fine, I'll carry you."

"Yay."

Charlie carried Elizabeth bridal style all the way to the front door, where she then dropped her on the ground.

"You're heavy," Charlie complained, panting out of breath. 

"You're weak prince charming," Elizabeth mocked, rubbing her shoulder, "thanks for dropping my by the way."

"You're welcome," Charlie smirked, opening the front door. 

"Charlie, Elizabeth!"

They both immediately greeted by Cassidy Reynolds, who wrapped the two of them into a hug. 

"Cassidy... you're wearing glasses," Charlie said confused.

"I think they look nice," Cassidy answered, "Jessica and Susie are waiting for you over there."

Elizabeth and Charlie made there way to where Jessica and Susie were talking.

"Hey!" Jessica cheered, hugging Charlie and Elizabeth.

"We're discussing the geo-political relations of South Sudan and Sudan," Susie explained to catch up Charlie and Elizabeth.

"No we're not," Jessica interjected, "we're talking about Marcus."

"He was probably the bomb threat perp because you wouldn't go to the dance with him," Susie reasoned. 

"Wouldn't put it past him," Charlie muttered.

"I really like this jacket," Susie told Charlie, rubbing her hand on Charlie's shoulder, "real leather?"

"Yes," Charlie answered. 

**"Eighteen naked cowboys in the showers at Ram Ranch."**

"Terrance!"

**Two minutes prior.**

Cassidy paced around the house, patrolling for any illegal or unethical activity. Naturally, she continually surveyed bathrooms and any rooms that people could hide in. Anna and Levi joined her on the routine searches. 

Other football players stood before the entrances, watching for suspicious activity. A few others guarded the kitchen, as it was an intersection and had an oven. Anything illegal would be caught, and yet Cassidy couldn't rest easy. 

"Everything's good upstairs," Anna declared, coming down the stairs and into the foyer. 

"Could change," Cassidy replied.

"Probably won't."

**"Eighteen naked cowboys in the showers at Ram Ranch."**

"Terrance!" Cassidy shouted, stomping into the main party area, "what did I tell you!?"

"What!? Can't I have a little fun?" he asked.

"No," she answered, "now turn that off. 

Charlie laughed at Terrance's music choice. 

"Charlie."

She spun around to find John standing behind her. 

"I need to talk to you," he began, "privately." 

"Alright," she said, following him upstairs. He led her to a small bedroom in the home.

"Charlie I, I've been thinking... for a while."

Charlie stared at him. He had elected to sit on the bed while she chose to stand, although she was leaning against the wall. John surveyed Charlie. He just couldn't break up with her, not tonight. It wouldn't be right.

 _"I will eventually,"_ he thought. 

"I....I'm sorry about the weird texts."

"It's fine, nothing I couldn't handle."

"But you shouldn't have had to handle them, that's the problem."

"You're right," she responded, "so don't send another one."

"I won't, I won't."

He laughed.

"You're the most beautiful girlfriend a guy could ask for," he remarked, "truly beautiful. Smart, nice, you didn't deserve those texts."

"John..."

"You know how I said we should only have sex once in a while to make it feel special," Charlie began with a seductive smile, reaching her arms inside of her skirt, "well tonight is once in a while."

Her dark-purple panties fell to the floor.

"Jesus christ," John whispered, jumping up from the bed to kiss her. As the two _consentionally_ (consent is important) groped each other, John led her back to the bed, sitting down with her on his lap. 

Charlie unzipped her leather jacket and tossed it onto the floor, alongside the white tee she wore underneath. John stared at her tits with wonder and excitement, reaching his arms around to unclasp her bra. Tossing it aside, he squeezed them firmly. She was sitting in his lap facing away from him. He reached his arm in front of her and into her skirt and began to finger her.

"Oh fuck," she whispered as John's fingers danced inside of her wet pussy. She could feel his erect penis rub against her. His left hand squeezed her left breast and he kissed her neck repeatedly. Charlie could hear another couple having sex in the bedroom to their left, and another couple arguing in the room to their left.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Charlie whined with pleasure, "it's so fucking good."

John had noticed that while having sex, Charlie changed. The conservative (not the ideology) christian girl, who hardly seemed interested in sex disappeared. Instead, she became overwhelmed and transformed. John fucking loved it.

"Your turn," Charlie whispered, getting up from John's lap. She waved her hands, signalling she wanted him to back up on the bed. He unbuckled his belt and removed it from the loops, unzipping them and pulling his cock out from his pants. On her hands and knees on top of the bed, she but his cock in her mouth and began to slowly bob up and down. John imagined what it must look like for someone passing by (they hadn't closed the door) to see Charlie on her hands and knees, bare ass and pussy exposed from the back of her skirt. He wished he could be in both positions. 

"You're getting better at this," John noticed, pulling her hair.

As the minutes passed, the two of them both enjoyed the bliss and pleasure that came with it. Finally, John told her to stop. She obliged.

"John do you have any condoms?" Charlie asked.

"No," he answered. He knew Marla had a bunch in her purse, but he didn't want to admit he knew that, or even speak to her. 

"Then this is all we can do, because I'm not on birth control."

"Charlie," he began, "I can pullout."

"I know, but doesn't that still not work."

"Come on Charlie, please."

"I want to, I really fucking want to," she whispered, kissing him. She removed her skirt entirely, and then ripped his jeans and boxers down his legs and off onto the floor. She squatted above his cock, and inserted his tip into her tight, wet pussy. Slowly, she began to ride him.

"Oh fuck," she cried as she began to speed up. 

After just a few minutes, both of them broke out into sweats, and stumbled around changing position into doggy-style. John stood on the bed on his knees behind her, while she stood on her hands and knees in front of him. As he thrusted into her, she started moaning more frequently.

"UH.... fuck John it's so fucking good!" 

"You're so fucking tight," he muttered, "so tight and wet."

"Paul wishes he could do this to me," she laughed.

"Who's Paul?"

"The creepy mailman who called me hot," she answered. John laughed in response. As he laughed he slowly started to realise he was about to....

"Goddammit!" John grunted, pulling out of his girlfriend and falling backwards onto the pillow.

"What does god dammit mean?" Charlie asked laying down.

"It means, I couldn't pull out in time."

"You came in me?" Charlie asked, "John what did I tell you!"

"I'm sorry Charlie," he replied, without a proper defense, "I didn't think..."

"I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this!" she fumed, getting up from the bed. As she started to redress, John did as well, stumbling through his jeans.

"Charlie I'm sorry!"

"John you better fucking hope I'm not pregnant, because I'm not killing it."

"You're not gonna get..."

"You don't know that," she she replied zipping up her jacket. Once her boots were securely on her feet, she stormed out of the bedroom.

"Charlie wait!" 

"No," she snapped at him.

Charlie stormed back downstairs to the main party area. Susie and Jessica were having a chat with Tristain about working on the app further. 

"Where'd you go?" Jessica asked.

"With John," She answered. 

"I see."

"This song fucking sucks!" Rebecca Simmons yelled, stumbling into the room holding a bottle of whiskey. 

"Who let her in here with that?" Cassidy barked, ushering for the football team to escort her out. 

"Oh fuck you Cassidy!" Rebecca slurred, "learn to live a little!" 

Two of the football players ushered her out the back door, closing it behind her. Rebecca in response threw her whiskey bottle at the glass door. The bottle shattered and whiskey spilled all over the glass but the door was intact. 

"What's up with her?" Charlie asked.

"No clue," Jessica replied.

Rebecca stumbled her way down the hill behind Cassidy's home, tripping over he own high heels and rolling down. A man stepped out from the forest and stood above her. She giggled at him, but he ignored it. Instead he picked her up and dragged her into the forest. Cramming her into the backseat of his car, positioned in the forest behind Cassidy's home. He grabbed a rope from the trunk and tied her up, and then to the two headrests. He had removed her phone from her pockets, and now sat in the drivers seat trying to activate it with gloved hands.

"Tell me your passcode," he ordered.

"586283," she said instantly, likely not even knowing what she was doing.

"Good," he whispered as it activated. He entered her settings and began looking at the keychain for usernames and passwords. Once each one was carefully documented, he then pursued her photo album for anything of use. After deducing that nothing of use was inside, he shut the phone down and threw it across the yard, hoping that it would throw them off the scent. 

He then closed his laptop, and exited the car walking around it. From the trunk, he grabbed a gag and attached it to Rebecca. Finally, he turned off all the interior lights and sped away, needing to get to the mountain that divided Hurricane and New Harmony as fast as possible. 

Charlie, Jessica, Susie, and now Elizabeth quickly shook off the Rebecca incident and had spent the next three hours chatting. They noticed that Markus had sat alone the entire duration of the party. He hadn't looked up from his phone the entire two hours he had been there. 

"Surely it must be about to die," Jessica whispered. 

"I don't think hentai burns through much battery," Charlie whispered back.

"Hey!" Sydney called out to the group. She marched over to them, "where's Cassidy?"

"No clue," Elizabeth answered.

"Great," Sydney muttered. 

*********

"Holy shit," Cassidy muttered, falling into her bed, "that was so wrong."

"Felt right though," Corey commented, laying down next to her, "you're on birth control, right?"

"Of course," she answered, "I'm not stupid."

He kissed her, "I do feel bad for Sydney though."

"Not for Levi?"

"Not really," he admitted, "he cheats at basketball."

Cassidy laughed, "okay that was funny."

"I'm serious, he cheats at basketball."

"Yeah and you cheat on your girlfriend, that's like comparing apples to floor boards."

"I only cheat on my girlfriend with the right person," he corrected, kissing her again.

"You're so fucking cheesy," she laughed.

"I know. And don't even use the morality talk with me you're cheating too." 

"Noted. No more morality from Great Empress Cassidy."

"Great Empress Cassidy," he laughed, "where'd that nickname come from?"

"Anna."

"Well I'll tell you what, you're my empress."

"You're so fucking cheesy it's not even funny."

"Sydney said the same thing," he replied.

"I know, I was there."

"I'm cold," she complained.

"You're naked," he responded. Corey had decided to put at least his boxers back on, but Cassidy still hadn't even considered getting re-dressed.

"I'm still cold," she said, getting under the covers, "join me," she begged. He obliged, and got under the covers as well.

Corey laid behind her, wrapping his arm around her. You could consider it snuggling. Cassidy could feel his now reformed erection inside his boxers rub against her bare ass. She laughed, and slowly began to grind against it.

"Oh come on, you could have told me you wanted round two," he told her. 

"No no, just having a little fun."

"You're so fucking perfect," Corey whispered to her, firmly squeezing her left breast, "and stacked."

"Okay, pull it out," she ordered immediately, "but go slowly."

"Yes oh Great Empress Cassidy," he obliged, removing his boxers and carefully re-inserting himself.

"Slow and steady," Cassidy whispered. 

"I know, I know," he assured her, "this is probably the greatest night of my life."

"You're telling me," she said.

"I wish Sydney was as stacked as you," he revealed, squeezing her tits. 

"Everyone wishes they had my chest, except for Charlie."

"Oh yeah, she's stacked too."

Cassidy elbowed him.

"Just making an observation," he defended, "John is fucking Marla by the way."

"Everyone's fucking Marla," she replied, "that whore has probably had sex with everyone this grade."

"Not me."

"Congratulations, you want a medal." 

"Yes."

"You're not getting one."

"Be honest," he said, speeding up a little, "who's bigger me or Levi?"

"You, but only by a small amount."

"That's good to hear."

"What the fuck are you two doing!"

Cassidy and Corey both shot up in the bed to find Sydney, standing in the doorway.

"Sydney... I'm sorry," was all Cassidy could say. 

Sydney stormed out of the room furious. Cassidy fell out of the bed, stumbling to get dressed. Corey followed suit. In the chaos, all of Cassidy's bed sheets fell off the elevated platform the bed was on.

"I should've locked the door," she fumed, "Sydney!" she yelled, dashing out of the room, still putting on the fake glasses. 

Corey lingered upstairs while Cassidy found Sydney leaving.

"Sydney!" she called out, "don't go."

"Why shouldn't I? So I can watch you fuck my boyfriend you fucking whore?"

"Sydney..."

"No, shut the fuck up."

As Sydney stormed towards her car, Cassidy trailed close behind, pleading for forgiveness.

"You claim that you're different from your mother, but no. You're exactly like her."

She slammed the car door shut and sped off. 

With that, Cassidy sent everyone home, drinking her mother's stash of wine until she blacked out.

*********

_"Police are still surveying the Reynold's residence, where seventeen year old Rebecca Simmons was last seen. Witnesses at the party reported that she was kicked out by party host Cassidy Reynolds for bringing alcohol to the party. Police now believe that she got drunk and then got lost trying to find her way home."_

The Saturday afternoon following the party, Charlie sat alone on the living room couch watching the news as her mother put her brown leather gloves around her hands. Henry came down the stairs holding a briefcase, already dressed in his long-beige jacket and gloves. Sammy and the twins were both away for the weekend, Sammy at a friends house and the twins staying at their grandparents. 

Her parents originally intended to be home for the weekend, but they instead were meeting with Sheriff Burke about potentially using Afton Robotics equipment to track Rebecca's location which meant for at least the next few hours, Charlie would be home alone. 

"Well, we'll be back by five, and then it'll just be us three until tomorrow night," Vanessa said to her daughter, opening the front door, "love you Charlie."

"Love you too."

As the door shut, Charlie stood up and walked towards the door watching her parents load into their car through the one way glass. Once they pulled out of the driveway and drove out of her view. Breathing deeply, she slowly made her way up the stairs and to her bedroom. Sitting on the floor of her closet laid her backpack. She carefully removed the contents from it, her binders and textbooks. 

Sitting at the bottom of the backpack, a small walgreens shopping bag. She removed it from the bottom of the backpack and removed its contents. A simple and not-complex pregnancy test. She had gone all the way to New Harmony that morning to obtain it because she didn't want anyone to recognize her, or people who knew her parents. 

Now that she alone, she crept to the bathroom. Dropping her sweatpants and panties to her ankles, she sat on the toilet seat and opened the tests box.

"Two lines pregnant, one line not," she whispered. Placing the test into position, she began to urinate. 

Once completing, she removed it from under herself and covered the glass with her finger. She didn't want to know until she cleaned it. She set it upside down on the sink counter next to her and stood up. Flushing the toilet, she pulled her pants back up and washed her hands. Then, she grabbed a clorox wipe from under the sink and sanitised the test carefully. 

"Two lines pregnant, one line not," she whispered again. She stepped out of the bathroom, still holding the test upside down. Now, in her bedroom, she uttered the words again.

"Two lines pregnant, one line not."

The worry and fear ate her up, she couldn't sleep the previous night terrified of what could happen. Based on the timing of her previous period, she knew she was in the window of being able to get pregnant which horrified her more.

"One line, one line, one line, one line, one line," she whispered over and over again, crossing her left fingers. She closed her eyes and turned over the test in her right hand. 

She opened her eyes. Her stomach churned, her eyes widened, and she broke out into a sweat. Staring at the glass of the test as if it were a train wreck, tears started to form in her eyes as her hands began to shake. 

"No..." she whispered, horrified at what she saw.

**Two lines.**

******************************************************

The man sat in an old wooden chair, sitting in front of an ancient desk. He removed the photos he printed on his printer from the manilla envelope he placed them in and sprawled them throughout the table. Different photos, each taken of the Emily family throughout the course of the week. Most were boring, but told a story. Patterns in schedules, and locations of individuals. 

For example, he knew Vanessa did yoga each afternoon at exactly twelve p.m. in front of the sliding glass door. He glanced at the photographs. These ones in particular were important because Vanessa changed in and out of her yoga attire directly in front of the door.

"You picked a good one Henry," the man muttered, glancing at the photo of Henry's naked wife.

The photos of Charlie's room were less important as she hardly stood in front of the window. All he could get were times she entered and left, but the picture of her changing intrigued him.

Having pictures of a minor naked were illegal, and he knew that. But if the police actually found the pictures, they were likely arresting him for other charges. He was in his seventies, he didn't care too much about shortening prison time. He planned on killing himself if he got caught again.

He took the pictures of Vanessa and Charlie and put them on his bulletin board on the long wall behind the desk. Written on the wall in sharpie "Pictures of Note." He put pictures of important times on a second bulletin board, with an index card tacked next to them saying what they were doing and at what time they did it. 

Once he finished, he stepped towards his laptop and singed into Rebecca's Instagram account. He then searched up 'Charlotte Emily' and pressed on the top result. Charlie's Instagram account had been set to private, so he needed inside access to it. 

The posts didn't interest him much, so he quickly stopped. Signing out, he shut the laptop and stepped toward the cage where a now hungover Rebecca laid.

"Please, let me out," she cried, "please!"

"No," the man replied coldly. Emotionless he stared down at her, "you and I are going to have so much fun together." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final word count: 8,813 for just this part. 15,821 for the entire story. 
> 
> The Midnight Motorist Saga has transcended to real time. We will continue the story of Doctor Charlotte Emily next time. 
> 
> Tis The Season comes up next and will continue plot threads of this story, which will all be resolved in Save the Last Dance. I want both parts of Tis the Season done by Christmas, but knowing my writing speed that probably won't happen.
> 
> I really have to write faster. 
> 
> Now, you're probably wondering why I put such a focus on Charlie and Cassidy in this (they got the two big plot threads that will both affect the upcoming stories.) Well, that's because Elizabeth's story cannot happen without Charlie and Cassidy's stories, and I feel that I have to show you these stories instead of quick little exposition dumps in the finale.


	6. Story 5: Tis The Season Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Christmas Season is upon Hurricane, but how can Elizabeth think about that when her sister begins taking her mother's role as her abuser? How can Charlie think about that when she has a pregnancy to hide?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note for the last chapter, I know you can't test for pregnancy the next day but this is fiction.

The Afton family seemed to change around Christmas Time. Lora changed, William changed, Elizabeth changed. The one time a year Lora committed herself to kindness (likely because it was the time of year the spotlight was on her the most). As Lora herself became more nice and less degregading, William and Elizabeth followed suit. Lucas was an emo all the time, and Amelia was Lora's princess every day of the year.

Christmas time however, she had to share the spotlight. 

The first major event of the Afton's carefully planned holidays was Thanksgiving. A carefully planned meal prepared by Lora (although Lucas, Amelia, Elizabeth and William were required to help) and nearly a thousand photographs for multiple social media pages, a blog, and one of the town's many tabloids. 

That's right, Hurricane has not only its own tabloid, but multiple tabloids. 

Once Thanksgiving came to an end, then began the Christmas season. 

Elizabeth was unsure why her mother truly changed around Christmas. Obviously her public appearances increased ten fold, but this didn't mean she couldn't still be cold & cruel in the darkness. Perhaps it was practice? Or Elizabeth's secret desire, a different Lora trying to break the sinister heart powering this Lora's rage. Whichever it might be, she was just glad she had a month off.

The world can be sick and twisted sometimes (or all the time in Elizabeth's eyes) however. As her stress at home lowered, the stress at school increased. Mr. Andrews sudden firing had resulted in three teacher changes in her Senior-College English class. The newest in the long line of underprepared teachers was Mrs. Gwent. An elderly lady who likely spent her entire life teaching young children. A pain no one should have to endure.

Mrs. Gwent's philosophy was 'The more you do for homework the more we can cover' and therefore homework was ramped up eleven-fold. Instead of a paper over the course of a week, it was a paper due after just two days. A book to be read after just four. The workload was too much, yet never enough for Mrs. Gwent. 

Elizabeth had spent her weekend working on an eleven page essay about Animal Farm, and had to read the first half of Lord of the Flies, and she had to do the homework for her other classes. 

Monday morning was exciting however, it was the last week before Christmas Vacation; two full weeks off of school. 

"Have you finished Christmas shopping?" William asked, sitting at the head of the table, reading the news on a tablet.

"Almost," Lora answered, "almost."

"When's Michael coming home?" 

"Sunday."

Lucas entered the kitchen and sat down next to Amelia with his stupid fucking emo getup. Elizabeth rolled her eyes at his arrival, and poured herself a glass of orange juice. Fifteen year old Amelia groaned at Lucas's arrival, and played on her phone. 

"Last week of school," William commented, looking up from his tablet. His three two children did not acknowledge him.

"Don't ignore your father," Lora ordered, carrying a platter of french toast to the kitchen table.

"Sorry Mother," Amelia apologized, "I will improve my conduct in the future."

"I know you will, because you're my little princess," Lora responded patting her FIFTEEN year old daughter on the head. Amelia smiled and gave Elizabeth a face of mockery.

Each of the Aftons grabbed french toast with a pair of tongs that were resting on the table prior to Lora bringing the platter over. Elizabeth took two pieces, Amelia took one, Lucas took _five_ and Lora took two and a half (commenting about how she had to watch her figure as she took the slices of bread). 

Once Elizabeth had finished eating breakfast, she excused herself back to her bedroom to finish packing her backpack. Sitting on her bed screen up was her elderly Galaxy S4 that her mother still refused to allow her to upgrade from (despite the household income of the month exceeding $500,000). New notifications were appearing faster then the phones speakers could alert her, which likely meant that her friends were having a lengthy conversation about an obscure topic no one actually cared about.

She put her gym clothes into a stray pouch alongside her sneakers and zipped her backpack to completion. Most of the things inside weren't necessarily academic. Only one binder, two notebooks, a few stray pencils spread at the bottom. Of course her laptop, most schoolwork was done electronically now.

The stuff that primarily filled her backpack were her gym clothes and sneakers, jacket (she only wore it when she left school because she had to walk home, her mother drove her there). She also had a handful of books that she would pretend to read during study hall (she actually hid her phone inside and played on that during study hall). 

With over an hour left until school started Elizabeth stepped into the bathroom that connected to her bedroom and turned the valve in her shower to turn on the hot water. She Pulled the lever on top of the bottom faucet to redirect the water to the top faucet and then double checked to make sure she had closed her bedroom door. She wasn't allowed to have a lock (per Lora, although a few past Decembers she had put one in, only to tear out in January. One year, she made it to March before it was torn out). 

As the warm air that emitted off the water filled the bathroom, she removed her black sweatpants and magenta sweatshirt (she slept without any underwear) and hurled them at the laundry basket that sat against the far wall in her bedroom. The clothes made their full trip across both the bedroom and bathroom and landed in the basket. Now naked, she stepped into the shower of the open door bathroom. 

The warm water pelted her naked body, and the steam entered her lungs quickly. She drenched her hair, preparing to wash it, while also listening. Her bathroom was positioned next to Amelia's bedroom, on the wall where her bed and desk were both set up against. Her sister was angrily cursing the name of Mr. Waftnoff, her Biology teacher, who had given her a D. Not really interesting, but Elizabeth needed something interesting to listen to. Her sister threw a temper tantrum every time she played music in the bathroom and she would record and mocked her if she sang or spoke. She was forced to have quiet showers, or face the wrath of her bitch sister.

Amelia wasn't an Afton, she was a Reynolds, and it was painfully obvious. She looked eerily similar to Cassidy, and had the same wavy black hair and green eyes (although this came from Lora). Acted just like her, although Elizabeth wasn't too sure that part was genetic. 

Her shower had a sliding glass door, which had fogged up. Her wall clock above the shower head had fogged up. The overhead fan would prevent the mirror from fogging. She took scorching hot showers, the feeling of both the warm water and the hot air felt good to her. She had read in one of her mother's magazines that scorching hot water damaged hair, but she didn't care too much about that. Not nearly as much as Lora and Amelia cared. 

As she scrubbed her petite body, she was unable to notice that he bedroom door had opened, and in came Amelia. The shower door was fogged after all. 

Amelia crept through Elizabeth's room, hoping to not make a sound. Sitting on her bed, atop a pile of the clothes Elizabeth would wear for the day. The phone rested a top a soft dark-cyan sweater. As notifications continued to pour in from the "Hot Bitches 🥵" group chat, Amelia opened Elizabeth's phone. Elizabeth wasn't allowed to have a phone password. Amelia was, but Elizabeth wasn't. As per the agreement struck up between Elizabeth and Lora.

Amelia's finger swiped through a series of past conversations, and Elizabeth's photo albums desperate for anything she could use against Elizabeth in any kind of way. She unsuccessful, even searching Elizabeth's search history on Chrome. 

Absolutely nothing.

Amelia groaned in her head and set the phone back down on the sweater, and searched other areas of the bedroom. There wasn't anything she was interested in, until she remembered Elizabeth's eleven page essay. She slowly and carefully unzipped the backpack and removed the essay from the binder. Then for extra punch she removed the leggings Elizabeth had stuffed in the front pocket for gym. She shoved the leggings into the laundry basket and exited the bedroom, laughing to herself.

Elizabeth's shower had come to an end as the door came to a close. Elizabeth opened the door to the shower and grabbed the towel hanging on the wall next to the shower (which was built into the wall). She dried herself off and stepped out onto the shower mat, and towards her sink. The mirror hadn't of fogged, which was useful because she needed it while she blow dried her hair (I let it dry naturally but I also take showers at four in the morning so I get three plus hours of dry time.). 

Elizabeth returned to her bedroom and started to get dressed, beginning with the floral patterned panties and ending with her sweater. Completely dressed and ready, she strapped her backpack around her shoulders and made her way to the driveway where her mother was waiting for her. Amelia sat in her room, slowly and carefully cutting the essay into a thousand pieces.

*********

Unlike Elizabeth, Charlie's bathroom experience consisted of her staring face first into the toilet bowl puking her guts out. She was hidden away in the upstairs bathroom, with both the overhead fan and shower on to both mask out the noise and create a semblance of her showering. Each morning, she would step into the shower, stand their for a few minutes, then flop her naked and wet body onto the floor to puke her guts out into the toilet.

The morning sickness had hit her hard, although it wasn't limited to the morning. She struggled at night, and sometimes at school as well. The child developing inside of her was giving her hell, and she felt it. 

With everything she had eaten that morning, and likely the night before as well, expelled into the toilet, she once again flushed and tried to return to the shower. Finally, her stomach eased and while she still had a headache, most of the stomach side of things began to subside. 

It had been almost three months, almost a full trimester and still no one knew. She was afraid. She was embarrassed. She was ashamed. 

Physical side effects were now starting to properly show, and it was problematic. She had noticed the baby bump began to grow to a point where she couldn't wear tight clothes, but she could still hide it via loose and baggy clothing, same with her ever growing breasts. She had to secretly purchase a new set of bra. She also had a vantage point of teenagers being less aware of pregnancy, as most hadn't experienced it first hand. 

Her shower came to an end, and she rushed to her bedroom. She dressed herself a long light gray dress that resembled a sweater (can you tell I like sweaters?) and tall boots. The dress was loose, which was important. The bra was tight, which was uncomfortable. 

Her drive to school was quiet as always, she passed by the homes of many Hurricane residents who she believed would one day judge her for this pregnancy, that she would see to the end. She couldn't bring herself to get an abortion. 

Once she arrived at school, she quickly made her way to Senior College English and removed her thirty-seven paged essay from her backpack and set it on the desk, waiting for Mrs. Gwent to collect it. 

"Hey!" Elizabeth said to Charlie, sitting down next to her. She set her backpack down and removed her binder from it, "how many pages this time?"

"Thirty-seven," Charlie answered, showing her the thick pile of papers held together by a butterfly clip.

"Damn. I only get eleven," Elizabeth replied, looking through the binder, "that I could have sworn I put in this binder. Maybe I just.."

"It's not in here."

"Oh no," Charlie gasped, "just print a new one."

"I did it on Word. On my desktop..."

"Jesus christ Liz."

"I know, I know." 

Mrs. Gwent stepped into the room and greeted the class.

"Welcome to your last week before Holiday break," Mrs. Gwent greeted, "I hope we all did our essays."

"The class, including Elizabeth, nodded." 

"Miss Afton, I noticed that yours isn't on your desk like the others," Mrs. Gwent noted, "that is a classroom rule. Must we re-read the Standard Operating Procedure."

"I forgot it," Elizabeth admitted.

"Did we now?" Mrs. Gwent asked, "well how's a week of academic detention sound?"

"That's a little extreme," Maggie commented, "perhaps just a day..."

"Shut up Miss. Cwoff, if I wanted your opinion I would have asked you."

"Sorry Mrs. Gwent."

"Now, does anyone else want to disappoint me today?" 

*********

Cassidy entered the first floor bathroom and glanced in the mirror. She brushed off the few clinging crumbs from the muffin she ate for breakfast in her study hall, and then admired her body. In her eyes, she was the perfect specimen. That day, she wore a tight black leather mini-skirt and a skin tight white turtleneck. The turtleneck allowed her hair to stick out more. Her hair was so long it nearly touched her waste. She made a vow not to only cut it once it reached the waste, and even then, only cut a foot or so off. She liked long hair, she felt it suited her.

She glanced at one of the stalls, the same stall she had found Marla blowing Carlton in a few weeks prior. 

Marla was an interesting character.

"Fucking bitch."

She turned around from the mirror to see Elizabeth Afton storm into the bathroom, tears forming in her eyes, and enter a stall. 

"Elizabeth?" Cassidy called out, hearing the blonde sniffle.

"What!" Elizabeth snapped. 

"What's wrong?" 

Cassidy didn't come to the bathroom to care about feelings, she stopped caring after her falling out with Sydney, but she also felt like it would hurt her reputation if she ignored someone who needed emotional support and comfort. 

"Why do you care?"

"Because, I just do."

Elizabeth unlocked the stall door and stood up.

"Mrs. Gwent is a fucking bitch."

"Undoubtedly," Cassidy affirmed, "what'd she do this time."

"Detention because I forgot my essay. Only once! I did the other homework, I just forgot the stupid essay that I remember putting in my backpack."

"She has control issues," Cassidy said to Elizabeth, jumping up to sit on the sink.

"Ya think?"

"Well look at it this way, she's gone after Christmas Break."

"May be gone," Elizabeth corrected, "if the replacement falls through her contract will be extended through January."

"Okay. Use this as a teaching moment. Sometimes life gives you a bitch, so learn to improvise, adapt, and overcome."

"That's... a strange way of putting it."

"I know," Cassidy responded, swinging her legs under the sink, "but sometimes that's the best way."

"Have you ever cut your hair?" Elizabeth then spontaneously asked.

"I stopped complete cuttings when I was ten. Slight trims every now and again to keep it this exact length," Cassidy answered, "strange question."

"I've always wonder. Are the glasses real?"

"These?" Cassidy asked, removing them from her face. She looked down at them and then remembered that afternoon on the couch with Anna, and then that night with Sydney and Cory.

"No, they're not."

She put them back on her face, "I just like the way they look."

Cassidy looked back at Elizabeth and realised the blonde was staring at her... _romantically_? Cassidy pondered. 

"I need to get back to class," Elizabeth then blurted, rushing out of the bathroom.

Cassidy laughed, "what can I say. Even women adore me." 

*********

"Look at Marcus," Anna whispered to Jessica as the two girls walked through the lunchroom to the table. Marcus was twirling his spaghetti noodles like nunchucks. 

"He's so fucking weird," Jessica whispered back.

They arrived at the lunch table and set their trays down. Charlie and Marla were caught in a heated debate.

"Oh come on he's probably never going to get a girl..."

"Marla just fucking stop!" Charlie ordered, dropping her fork onto her tray.

"The fuck is this shit about?" Jessica asked sitting in one of the three empty chairs.

"Marla thinks Charlie should mercyfuck Marcus," Elizabeth filled them in, "for some asinine reason." 

"I just think it'd be funny," Marla explained, twilight the spaghetti on her yellow lunch tray, "two inches. Tops." 

Anna and Jessica both rolled their eyes, Anna opening her chocolate milk and Jessica taking the first bite of the hastily prepared salad. Charlie took one final bite of the spaghetti and spoke, "I want more."

"More? You already paid extra for a double serving," Susie commented.

"And I want more!" Charlie barked, smacking the bottom of her fork onto the table, "I've got a limitless credit card in my wallet I can buy every serving this school could make."

"But you won't," Elizabeth told her, "because there are still two lunches left." 

Charlie rolled her eyes and licked the remaining sauce off of her fork. Each of the girls at the table, and even those that weren't at the table noticed a change in Charlie's attitude. One too drastic to be considered natural. They all chalked it up to being hormonal changes of a teenager, none knew the sad truth. Well, sad in her eyes. 

Marla laughed.

"What's so funny?" Susie asked, glancing up from the book she had been reading, _Star Wars: Dark Force Rising_.

"I'm trying to imagine Charlie and Marcus having kids." 

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Charlie snapped, snatching Marla's tray. She then scarfed down five forkfuls of spaghetti within five seconds, and threw the tray back at Marla. Everyone at the table stared in disbelief, and those sitting in surrounding tables (including Marcus) laughed. Some, couldn't fathom what they were looking at, "that's what you get."

"Holy... fuck," Jessica whispered.

"The fuck was that?" Marla demanded to know, staring down at her tray in utter disbelief. Charlie swallowed the horde of spaghetti.

"Shut the fuck up and stop talking about Marcus," Charlie answered coldly. Elizabeth placed a hand on Charlie's shoulder,

"Charlie..."

"Fuck off."

"Jesus Christ, what is with you today?" Jessica hissed.

"I just want fucking spaghetti!" Charlie screamed, standing up and storming off, leaving her backpack and tray behind.

Everyone, including Marcus watched her leave the cafeteria. Marcus sat alone, staring at the table she had sat at. He had listened to the mercy fuck conversation, and decided it was his time. He followed Charlie out of the lunch room and confronted her in front of the first floor bathrooms.

"Hey!" he called out.

"What!" Charlie snapped. Marcus backed off, a little terrified. Then however, he decided he had to approach.

"Pleasehavesexwithme!" he begged, holding his hands in prayer. 

"No."

"Please! Please! Please!"

Charlie turned around to face Marcus.

"Meet me in the Janitor's Closet in two minutes," she told him, walking off in the direction of the Janitor's Closet.

"Holy shit it worked," Marcus cheered. He decided to wait ninety seconds so no one would be suspicious, then made his way towards the Janitor's Closet. The entire trip, he was thinking about all the positions he wanted to try, and the odds of knocking her up. When he arrived, he noticed the light was on, and knew she was in their. He opened the door and closed it behind him. Written on a sheet of paper and tacked on the back of the wall....

**You thought.**

*********

Charlie was not seen again until gym class, which was the second to last class of the day for her. Elizabeth and Cassidy were also in that class. 

Elizabeth entered the locker room and set her backpack down on one of the benches. She felt a little uncomfortable being in the female locker room due to her sexuality, but no one actually knew so it wasn't weird to them. At least she hoped.

Cassidy shed her skirt and turtleneck in favor of athletic shorts and a white t-shirt, Charlie put on yoga pants and a large black sweatshirt, which received comments from Coach Joggle because it was too warm and thick to possibly be comfortable. Elizabeth dug in her backpack for her gym clothes. She laid out her t-shirt and sneakers, but her leggings were nowhere to be found.

"Jesus christ," Elizabeth groaned, "today just isn't my day."

"What now?" Jessica asked.

"No leggings," she huffed, kicking off her boots. 

"Damn. Will Coach Joggle still let you participate?"

"Doubt it," Elizabeth replied, "this isn't much of an athletic skirt."

Well, might as well try.

Now in just her bra (which she was convinced Charlie was staring at), she put on the t-shirt she had packed and the sneakers. Walking out into the gym, she called out to the coach.

"Coach Joggle!"

"Yes Elizabeth?" the coach asked, staring at her clipboard still.

"I forgot pants," she explained.

"I see," the coach sighed, "well you'll just have to sit out."

Elizabeth groaned an walked towards the bleachers, where she sat alone. Cassidy took one look at her and started walking towards the bleachers, sitting down next to her.

"What're you doing?" Elizabeth asked.

"If you can't participate then I won't either," Cassidy answered, "consider it a protest of sorts." 

"Cassidy!" Coach Joggle yelled from the other side of the gym, "you're not getting out of this. Run your laps."

"I'm protesting!"

"Protesting what?" the coach asked, jogging towards the duo.

"If she can't participate then neither will I."

"Unless Elizabeth here wants the whole class to see her underwear, she won't participate."

Cassidy rolled her eyes, "not valid. Here's five hundred bucks."

"You can't bribe your gym teacher," Coach Joggle groaned again, walking off.

"I tried," Cassidy shrugged, running her eight laps.

Elizabeth hated sitting on the sidelines, because that day they were playing volleyball and Elizabeth had gotten quite good at. She understood why though, the amount of jumps required would have given the people behind her a full frontal of her ass and underwear, which was something she shouldn't be doing. She knew some people such as Marla went out of their way to flash as many students as possible while wearing skirts, but Elizabeth was more conservative than that. 

Class came to an end, and while Charlie went off to her AP Modern Government class, Elizabeth made her way to her study hall where she sat pretending to read and playing on her phone. When the day ended, she walked home, slipped on the ice, and got a nasty cut across her face. The kind that scars. 

She sat in her bedroom crying, as she did most days, and stared at the ceiling. 

Her sister Amelia sat in her room, laughing. She had seen Elizabeth slip.

Lora had slacked on abusive behavior in the month of December, and Amelia felt it was her duty to take over for Lora while she focused on her public image. Image was the utmost important thing, and Amelia still had a truckload of excuses that Lora had already burned through. Some, Lora _could_ use again, but she was saving them for something major. 

Hearing the sobs of Elizabeth brought satisfaction to her. The fact that she could hear them through both Elizabeth's entire bedroom and a bathroom, two walls and two rooms, brought a smile to her face. Her next move would be petty, and would be stupid, but it would bring continue her intentions.

She got up from her desk chair and walked towards Elizabeth's room, she opened the door and found her sister laying in her bed, legs sprawled out. She could see her sisters underwear, which wouldn't be the first time, as Elizabeth was less conservative at home. Probably because she didn't have an image to protect, Amelia didn't completely know. 

"Hey bitch," Amelia snarled, "close your fucking legs."

"Fuck off Amelia," Elizabeth hissed, "I will fucking kill you tonight if you take one more step."

Amelia took a step forward. Elizabeth shot up from her bed and walked towards her sister. Elizabeth was 5'5", Amelia was 5'8". Younger, yet taller and superior, Amelia also had a strength. advantage. One she fully intended on using, whatever way possible. Amelia slapped her sister, the force she used hurt her own hand, but in her eyes it was worth it. Recreating that infamous slap from all those years ago, the one Elizabeth still had nightmares about.

"The fuck was that for?" Elizabeth asked. Amelia punched her sister in the stomach, then kicked her left leg in, causing her to collapse. Broken and battered, Elizabeth continued to cry on the floor. Amelia looked down on her sister, standing over her. She reached down and grabbed Elizabeth by her hair.

"I hope you get raped on the side of the highway and then burned to death," Amelia whispered.

"The fuck is wrong with you?"

"Of course I don't know why anyone would want to rape anyone as flat as you," Amelia laughed.

"Oh fuck off," Elizabeth snapped, punching her sister in the ankle. Amelia hardly flinched, the punch was pathetic compared to what Amelia had administered just moments ago.

"I got the good genes."

"You're a fucking bastard child and we all know it," Elizabeth sneered.

"I know. And yet, I'm a thousand times more appealing than you'll ever be. Everyone likes me, everyone adores me."

"You're a narcissist."

"Thanks, now tell me something I don't know," Amelia rolled her eyes leaving the bedroom.

*********

The rest of the week hadn't gone too well, with Amelia intervening and making Elizabeth's life horrible at every possible step. Even Lora wasn't this cruel to her. 

The Afton's christmas preparations were coming along, and their annual attendance at the mayor's charity gala was fast approaching.

Friday was the last day of school before Christmas break, and as it came to a close Elizabeth realised how soon the gala was. Monday, she would be dressed up in a dress her mother had purchased from the local tailor for an egregious price, and sitting at a table listening to discussions she had no care for. 

Elizabeth, Jessica, Susie, and Charlie walked out of the school together on Friday, laughing about Christmas memories. Susie was talking about how Jeremy had opened one of her presents by accident, and the mixup it caused. The laughing made Elizabeth feel warm and safe, a feeling she rarely felt, if ever. 

"What are you guys doing this afternoon?" Susie asked.

"I gotta go to Walgreens," Charlie explained, "I've got this bad rash and we don't have any cortisone." 

She tried to play it off as random, something caused by the cold, but it was a side effect of her pregnancy.

"Damn," Jessica commented, "Brian and I are going out to dinner tonight."

"Nothing much for me," Elizabeth sighed, "actually Charlie while you're at Walgreens can you pick me up some Advil. We don't have any and I don't have a car."

"Sure," Charlie answered, "I'll get some McDonalds on my way back. I've been craving french fries all fuckin' day."

"First Spaghetti, then milkshakes, and now french fries," Susie laughed, "someone needs to keep their cravings under control." 

The women all went their separate ways. Charlie loaded up into her sedan and drove towards the Walgreens which was near Freddy's, which is where her parents were hashing over budgets with Matt. The Walgreens parking lot was nearly empty, few were shopping their at two-fifteen on a Friday, which relieved Charlie. She left her jacket in the car, she felt no need to wear it for a ten second walk. That day she wore a green version of the dress she wore on Monday, with high boots.

The inside of the store had one shopper, and elderly lady looking at the swimming goggles hanging on one of the back walls, Charlie just wanted her cortisone and Advil and then she'd leave as fast as possible.

She found the Cortisone and the Advil in the front of the store and made her way to the checkout. She also grabbed a pack of gum and some tic-tacs for no reason other than she wanted them, and stood in line at the checkout. The elderly woman purchased the goggles and walked off, leaving Charlie alone with the young female cashier named Kashmire. 

"Just these items?" Kashmire asked, taking the debit card that Charlie was holding out to her.

"Yup."

"How far along are you?" Kashmire then asked.

Charlie froze and broke out into a sweat. Her mind raced with a thousand things, most importantly.

_How did she notice?_

_Could anyone have noticed?_

_How many others noticed?_

_How am I going to tell mom and dad?_

"I'm sorry, are you not pregnant? Oh I'm so sorry," Kashmire cired, "I didn't mean to..."

"Three months," Charlie answered. Kashmire sighed a sigh of relief, and swiped the card. Charlie signed and walked off with her items in hand, still horrified at her encounter.

So horrified in fact, that she didn't even get the McDonalds. 

Elizabeth sat alone in the living room. No one was home. Luke and Amelia were both likely at friend's houses, and her parents were off doing god knows what. She was watching horribly written Hallmark movies when the doorbell rang. 

Once she opened the door, Charlie burst through, kicked the door closed and screamed, "I'M THREE MONTHS PREGNANT!" 

* * *

Dr. Charlotte Emily and her husband Richard Emily sat alone on the sofa in their living room. The doctor held a mug of lemon tea that she sipped at slow and careful intervals. Laying on the carpet in front of the sofa was their daughter Vanessa, and the Miller twins, Jenny and Robert Jr. The three were playing with toy dinosaurs.

"I'm glad they're getting along," the doctor commented, sipping her tea. Her husband glanced up from the novel he had been reading.

"Same."

The twins had integrated into the Emily family without any major problems. Doctor Emily had struggled to have children, with Vanessa as her and Richard's only successful attempt. The Miller twins expanded the family, and completed the dream the doctor had when she first envisioned having a family.

When she had that dream however, she didn't expect her husband to be representing them in court.

"You talk to Greg?" 

Greg was Richard's business partner, and was assisting Richard in the Miller case. Richard represented the twins, and gathered their testimonies and evidence for them while also building a personal relationship with them that open up the pathway to trust. Greg gathered the evidence of the murder of Delilah and would present said evidence. The Prosecutor Alan Kilgore would then take this information to the courtroom and present it before the judge, defense, and jury. 

The couple fought a two pronged offensive. Richard represented them legally, while Charlotte put her expertise to use to counsel the twins and help them overcome the traumas they underwent while under Robert's care. She also took on the full responsibility of being their mother. The School Board had granted her a ninety day leave of absence to allow her to focus on the situation at hand, which she had been grateful for. The idea of being in court, counseling the twins, being a fulltime mother to three children and work a fulltime job as a school counselor overwhelmed her, but now that one of these had been removed from the picture put her at ease. 

"All the evidence has been properly submitted, so now it's just a matter of Trish's litigation on Monday."

Patricia Gray was the prosecutor. 

"Well, things should move smoothly from here. It's a clear and shut case, at least I'd assume so. Not really much a public defender can do against these."

"Cody Mills is a nutcase to begin with, I have no idea why he is a public defender."

"Well at least that helps us even further," Charlotte pointed out, sipping her tea once again, "he's got a bad lawyer, the evidence is stacked against him, and he has a past criminal record. Clear. Cut. Case."

"I guess you're right."

Richard returned to reading.

"The name change papers?" Dr. Emily then asked, setting her tea mug down onto the coaster on their side table.

"Ready for submission," Richard answered, "soon Rob Jr. will be legally known as Henry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time I have an excuse. I wrote a 12,000 word English paper.
> 
> This part sets up story beats of the second part, the gala, the reveal, and some other fun stuff that are a long time coming. 
> 
> If you felt disappointed about Cassidy this time, the next part is going to be heavily focused on her, which is why it probably won't be done by Christmas because the amount of story that needs to be covered is absolutely overwhelming. Charlie, Elizabeth, and Cassidy have massive story arcs that are either culminating or are being springboarded to the finale. 
> 
> I wrote the first 800 words the same day I posted Homecoming Part 2 and wrote the rest today. When I focus, I can write 5,000 words in one day.


	7. Story 5: Tis The Season Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie confesses the truth.  
> Meanwhile, a new lead is discovered on the Rebecca Simmons case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6,000 words baby!

"What!?" Elizabeth yelled in response, shaking in surprise. It was an emotional experience to learn a secret in such a manner.

"It's John's," Charlie revealed.

"How did I not notice?" Elizabeth asked herself. Charlie pulled her dress tightly against her body and gestured her face down towards her stomach.

"I tried my best to hide it, but the lady at Walgreens noticed so I rushed here..."

"Which is why I don't have my double cheeseburger," Elizabeth sighed, "the cravings are explained then."

"Yup."

"You tell your parents? John?"

"You're the first to know."

"Damn," Elizabeth muttered, almost to herself, "sit down."

"Actually, I want those fries," Charlie rebutted, "so let's go get some McDonalds."

"Alright, lead the way. Mom."

Charlie rolled her eyes and led Elizabeth out to her Jetta, where she sat in the driver's seat once more. The two drove in silence for a majority of the ride until Elizabeth finally started asking her best friend more questions.

"Abortion?"

"I can't bring myself to it."

"When?"

"Cassidy's party." 

"How long have you known?"

"Almost three months."

"An entire trimester," Elizabeth commented, as the Jetta came to the McDonalds drive thru. Once it was their turn, Charlie ordered their usual: a crispy chicken sandwich, two (she was CRAVING fries so she got two) large fries and a chocolate milkshake for her, and a double cheeseburger, medium fries and a coke for Elizabeth. 

Once the food had been ordered, paid for, and given to them, Charlie drove the Jetta back to the Afton house while Elizabeth held the food bags in place on her lap. The bags were pelted by the hot air coming from the dashboard heaters of the Jetta, which kept the food warm for the duration of the ride. The warmth of the bags made Elizabeth feel uncomfortable as after just a few minutes the heat started to hurt her. She still felt a duty however; a duty to hold the food and protect it. 

Once they arrived back to the Afton house, they both went to the dining room. Elizabeth set the bags down onto the table while Charlie set the two drinks down, and then they sat. Elizabeth sat across from Charlie, although either of them could have gotten away with sitting at the head of the table. 

"Fries," Charlie rejoiced, dipping her first french fry into her pod of secret sour sauce, "oh how I've missed you."

Elizabeth shifted in her seat, and then spoke, "the gala."

"What about it?" Charlie asked, putting four fries in her mouth, and wiping away the excess sauce from around her lips with the cheap brown napkin McDonalds had so generously given them. 

"I don't want to go."

"Neither do I," Charlie agreed sipping from her milkshake, "someone's going to notice I'm pregnant."

Elizabeth came to reason that Charlie had it worse off. She could bitch and moan all she wanted, but at the end of the day Charlie was the one pregnant, and she just had to show up without any unnecessary drama. Although Amelia was starting to become more problematic for her. If she acted up at the gala...

That would be trouble.

As the two finished their meals, the front door opened. Inside came Amelia Afton, listening to mumble rap through her AirPod Pros which were jammed in her ears. She had noticed the Jetta, which she recognized because no one she knew other than Charlie drove a Jetta. She didn't care that Charlie was in the house, because she just planned on going up to her bedroom to watch YouTube until dinner. 

She removed one of her AirPods to listen in on what the two older girls were talking about, and decided to sit on the front steps and listen for just a few moments.

"Amelia just got home by the way," Elizabeth told Charlie, "she went upstairs though."

"She's a bitch," Charlie whispered. Amelia struggled to hear this but she did. Upon hearing this, she had to hold in a laugh. Ironic coming from the spaghetti bitch, she thought. 

"You need to tell everyone, and as fast as possible," Elizabeth then told Charlie, "because it's the best for you to have other people involved. Especially people like your parents."

Charlie agreed. What else was she going to do? Elizabeth was right, she shouldn't and couldn't do it alone, and then was better than never. 

Amelia was unsure of what they were discussing, and she didn't really care. Instead, she went up to Elizabeth's bedroom and started snooping again. Charlie would keep her occupied, and this time, the bathroom was available.

She stepped into the bathroom, flipping the lightswitch upward as she did. The bathroom walls were pink, and had to small windows near the ceiling on the left wall. Amelia snooped through the vanity, but found nothing of note. 

"She's no fun," Amelia groaned, "no dark secrets."

Amelia pouted out of the bathroom, and out of the bedroom.

Downstairs, Elizabeth internally prayed that she and Charlie would fall in love with one another.

True love.

The opposite of what Lora hoped. Exactly what Lora feared. 

*****

  
Cassidy stood alone, leaning against the wall of the foyer texting on her phone and waiting for her parents to get their from the airport. They had flown in from Salt Lake City that afternoon, and Elaine would fly in the next morning. 

She and Nole (her new boyfriend) were engaged in a heated conversation over Snapchat about whether or not he should have paid for the movie they had saw the previous night when she heard the door unlock. She shut off her phone and set it in the back pocket of her jeans and waited for her parents to enter.

Instead Elaine stepped inside.

"Cassidy!" Elaine called out, setting her suitcases down onto the floor. She outstretched her arms for a hug, and Cassidy ran over to accept the offer.

"You're here early," Cassidy commented hugging her sister.

"Surprise!"

Elaine was 6'1" while Cassidy was 5'7". She also had black hair, but she wore glasses (real ones) and had brown eyes. Cassidy had elected not to wear her fake glasses that day, which was probably the smart decision. Elaine stepped backwards and grabbed her luggage once again.

"I'll go unpack before Dad and Mother return home," she explained to Cassidy. Cassidy nodded her head and went into the living room. Soon thereafter, Elaine came back downstairs and the duo welcomed their parents back to Hurricane with a dual salute.

"Dad!" Cassidy called out, running towards her father. She jumped up to hug the 6'4" man. He laughed at her hug, and returned the sentiment. Her mother rolled her eyes, and said coldly, "Cassidy."

"Mother."

Thomas was glad to see Elaine had come out west a day early, and gave her a hug. Sophia Reynolds didn't acknowledge her second daughter's presence. Instead, the petty yet pretty woman strutted to the master bedroom to discard her suitcase and change. 

Thomas followed suit, leaving the sisters alone once again.

"Oh dear," Elaine whispered, "she's still a bitch."

"What a surprise," Cassidy muttered, "everything is still the same here."

Elaine gave a sad laugh as she turned around to get something to eat from the kitchen, leaving Cassidy alone in the foyer. She was used to being alone.

Nole continued to send her messages through Snapchat, despite her PSA of being unavailable. She sighed and went to the kitchen, where Elaine was preparing herself some Hot Pockets.

"Didn't know we had these," Elaine commented at Cassidy's entrance.

"When I have to do the grocery shopping, I pick the things that are purchased," Cassidy declared, pouring herself a glass of water from the overly expensive water purifier in the refrigerator. 

"The fuck are those?" Sophia fumed, storming into the oversized kitchen.

"They're called hot pockets mother, not much a novel concept just a miniature inside out pizza..."

Sophia removed a knife from the kitchens knife holder, "I know what a FUCKING hot pocket is. Why do we have them?"

"When I have to do the grocery shopping, I pick the things that are purchased," Cassidy repeated, standing firm. Her mother couldn't stab her, because stabbing is illegal. And doing illegal thing causes a negative reputation.

Sophia stepped forward, "this is my house," she raised the knife to Cassidy's face, "and in my house we eat my food."

The edge of the knife grazed Cassidy's cheek, slicing her. The cut was rather shallow, but the pain still persisted. 

Cassidy shreaked.

"The fuck is wrong with you!" Elaine yelled.

Blood dripped from her daughters face, and Sophia smiled, satisfied with a job well done. 

*****

John sat on the worn out couch that sat in the small, sad, and practically empty living room when Charlie charged through his front door. That day, she wore jeans and a cropped sweatshirt. She kicked off her snow covered boots (the walkway up to John's apartment hadn't been shoveled) and stared at her secret boyfriend. 

"When are you going to break up with her?" Marla whined, "I can't keep turning down men forever. Especially when they're offering money now...."

"I already told you that as long as Charlie and I are together you don't have to date just me."

"But I will."

"Why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"Marla, if they're offering you money, take it."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because the only one who's actually offered money is Marcus."

"Oh. Fuck."

"Yeah."

"That's fucking hilarious," John laughed, "how much?"

"One hundred dollars for 'whatever I view reasonable for one hundred dollars.'"

John laughed once more, "he's so desperate."

"Might want to watch out, I told Charlie to mercy fuck him."

"Her reaction?"

"Ate my fucking spaghetti!!"

"What the hell."

"I know. She straight up grabbed my tray and ate all my spaghetti. It was the most horrifying sight I've ever seen."

"So I don't think I can use that as an excuse to break up with her?" John sighed.

"Probably not, should make sure though."

"Imagine if Marcus got her pregnant," John muttered, "or you."

"Gross! I don't want to imagine Marcus reproducing.

"You're welcome," John smiled. 

*****

Vanessa and Henry sat down next to each other at the dining room table, their daughter making her way towards them. Vanessa phone sat face up on the table next to her, in case she received any important updates. Sammy was upstairs with the twins.

"So, what's the reason for our gathering?" Vanessa asked.

Henry laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"I have never heard anyone talk like that, not even Will."

"Oh shut up."

Charlie sat down in the chair across from them and took a sip from the glass of water that she had laid out for herself. 

"Mom."

She looked Vanessa in the eye.

"Dad."

She sighed, and stared down at the table.

"I'm...."

Vanessa and Henry starred each other in the eyes.

"You're?" Vanessa inquired.

"I'm pregnant."

"Pregnant. You're pregnant," Vanessa repeated, "you of all people are pregnant."

"Yeah," she answered standing up. She stood parallel to the table, giving her parents a side profile view, then tugged on her dress to tighten it around the stomach.

"You aren't kidding," Henry whispered. Vanessa elbowed Henry in the ribs.

"Charlie," Henry sighed, "is John the father?"

"Yes."

"Does he know?"

"Only Elizabeth and as of ten minutes ago Jessica, Susie and Julia."

"Don't you think you should tell him?"

"I will."

"What the hell were you thinking?" Vanessa erupted, surprising Henry. 

"Ness," Henry whispered, "a little less, violent."

"No Henry, our daughter is pregnant. Our HIGH SCHOOL daughter Henry. This is serious, this is absolutely irresponsible and... holy fuck Charlie."

"Mom," Charlie spoke, trying not to cry, "I know."

"Based on your stomach size, I'd say it'll be born at the end of the school year so at leas it won't greatly impact your highschool studies," Vanessa acknowledged, "but college..."

"I'm not going to college."

"Oh. Want to go 0-2 tonight with me Charlotte?" Vanessa asked.

"My programming talent exceed that of most of silicon valley's best I don't need college!"

"She has a point," Henry interjected, "I've seen her work."

"Henry! We are supposed to be a united front."

"Ness."

"What were you thinking?" Vanessa asked, changing the subject again.

"I wasn't! I wasn't thinking okay!"

"This isn't going to reflect well on us Henry," Vanessa turned to her husband.

"Not relevant."

Henry and I need to speak alone, we'll be back.

*****

Sheriff Clay Burke and Detective Larson sat alone in Larson's private office and glanced over the reports for the hundredth time that day, they were still incapable to find anything different. 

"We're not going to find anything of note. There are no leads to the whereabouts of Rebecca Simmons. Not even that tracking teck A.R. gave us found anything of significance."

"Except for the fact that someone in Denmark logged into her Instagram Account three days after her disappearance."

"What are the odds that was a VPN?" Sheriff Burke asked.

"Probably high," Larson answered, "but we still don't have a single lead."

"I still find it rather interesting that it happened the same day as the bomb threat," Detective Powell chimed in from outside the office, "maybe the bomb threat was a distraction."

"Possibly, still, we don't know who did that either."

In all his years as Sheriff, Clay Burke had not dealt with a case as impossible as the Rebecca Simmons case. There was not any physical evidence, there we not witnesses, and Simmons herself had not been spotted since she stumbled out that sliding glass door. Clay put Larson on the case because Larson was the most skilled detective they had, but not even Everett Larson with all his detective talent could solve the case of Rebecca Simmons.

Detective Powell had been assigned to investigate the bomb threat, but just as the Simmons case there weren't any leads or witnesses. Whoever had done it already had a voice changer and disposable cell phone, as not a single store in Hurricane had sold either within thirty days of the event, and anyone who had bought them within ninety days were cleared early into the investigation. 

Upon questioning, Clay's own daughter Allison had pinned the bomb threat on Marcus Browne, something Carlton agreed with. There wasn't any tangible evidence except that Marcus was weird and wasn't like the other kids in Hurricane.

Clay had given his children a discussion on appearances that night. 

Ethan Welker Clay had pursued because he was on the list of those who bought a burner phone in the ninety day window, but he was cleared because he had detention that afternoon with Mrs. Meecham. 

"Well, I think at this point we need to close the case," Detective Roberts declared, sitting next to Powell in the main office area of the Hurricane Police Department. Roberts had spent a large majority of his time in that central office spraying Powell's desk, trying to freshen it up. Larson and Burke didn't understand the point, but at the same time they didn't really care. 

"Guys!" Trisha Oliver, one of the Hurricane Police Department's secretaries yelled, running into the main office area.

"What Trisha?" Detective Powell enquired.

"We may have a lead," she said excitedly, handing a wireless phone to Roberts, "Simmons Case," she whispered to the others.

"This is Detective Roberts of the Hurricane Police Department, I've been informed that you may have a lead on a case we are actively pursuing."

"Hey wait a minute, if this is the SImmons case shouldn't I be the one taking the call?" Larson asked.

"Oh hush down Everett," Burke said to him, "this could be important."

"It's my case."

"I see. Yes, thank you."

"So?" Burke asked, standing up from his desk chair. 

"Someone is claiming that they saw a man dump a body by the old high school, and that it resembled the description of Rebecca Simmons." 

"Well then, let's go to the old high school," Sheriff Burke declared, "and hopefully we'll get some closure for this case."

"We should close the case," Larson mocked.

*****

Hot Bitches 🥵

Charlie: Told my parents.

Jessica: Well...

Charlie: They were disappointed.

Susie: Any yelling? 

Charlie: A little. 

Charlie: They gave me the rundown on how things would work, and I had to call Jen and tell her about it too.

Elizabeth: At least they aren't pissed

Elizabeth: My Mom would kill me

Charlie: I guess you're right.

Jessica: Okay now can I have claims to be the godmother?

Elizabeth: Thats my role!!!!!!!

Jessica: 😤

Julia: 🤣

Charlie laughed at her phone.

Charlie: I'm telling John tomorrow at Olive Garden.

Susie: Why Olive Garden??

Charlie: Breadsticks!

Elizabeth: Is he paying?

Charlie: Why?

Elizabeth: Hes gonna be a daddy now 

Susie: At least it isnt marcus *message was liked by Charlie, Elizabeth, and Jessica*

Charlie turned off her phone and set it on the nightstand. She was on Christmas break now, and it was time to act like it. Even if she was pregnant, she could still have fun while she was in her first trimester. She tore off her dress and put on sweatpants and a long sleeve tee. 

She laid in her bed watching Community on Netflix for a third time, until midnight when she finally fell asleep.

Charlie sat at a dining room table, feeding her infant child, whose gender was unclear (she meant to check but everytime she tried something interrupted). The baby rocked in its high chair with each bite of its gooping mango flavored mush. Charlie laughed at her baby, and also at Community which was playing on a tv in the kitchen, although faintly. 

The tone of the dream changed as Elizabeth Afton entered the kitchen through an archway, carrying a piece of paper. The paper itself was irrelevant. Tossed aside by the young woman as she took a seat at the table and began to eat from a plate of spaghetti that appeared spontaneously. Charlie hadn't even realised, it appeared. She looked down at her own food and found a pile of McDonalds french fries. 

"It's so adorable," Elizabeth said to Charlie, pointing at the baby, "Sponge is the cutest baby I've ever seen."

Charlie was surprised to learn her genderless child was named Sponge. 

Suddenly the scenery changed to the living room of the strange house. Sponge was in a playpen, unphased by the two women standing, staring at one another. Suddenly again, Elizabeth spoke, "it's our anniversary."

"Of what?" Charlie asked, looking at her friend with genuine confusion. 

"It's our WEDDING anniversary silly," Elizabeth laughed, stepping towards her apparent wife. Charlie didn't move, she couldn't move. She was unsure if she wanted to once Elizabeth's arms wrapped around her and they exchanged a passionate kiss. Charlie's arms wrapped around Elizabeth, and without thought reached down to squeeze her best friends ass. She took a firm grasp with her right hand while her left hand cupped Elizabeth's face

The world then changed once again.

This time, they were both naked. Elizabeth atop of her, kissing her. They ground against one another, both women were wet and ready. Slowly, Elizabeth crept down and began to perform some good old fashioned oral. [I don't know how to fucking word it.] Both girls broke into sweats. Sponge had disappeared, in fact the entire room except for the couch had disappeared. In the far distance, John, Cassidy, Marcus, and even Paul watched the two girls. Something about being watched by them stimulated Charlie further. 

For a first time, Elizabeth had given Charlie a thrill ride. Daggers swam through her bloodstream, an electric pulse swept through her spine, and suddenly she was ready to.....

Charlie's eyes opened suddenly, she was back in her dark bedroom. Community was still playing on her phone although the phone had been dropped on the floor when she fell asleep. Charlie's breath were quick and heavy, beads of sweat trickled from her forehead. She reached down to grab her iPhone and paused the episode, which was at least four ahead of what she last remembered, and paused it.

Setting her phone on her nightstand, she realized that her underwear was rather damp. Her bedsheets and sweatpants remained clean and dry, but not her panties. She reached a hand under her pants and rubbed her soaked panties, and came to the conclusion that the dream had sexually aroused her in the real world as well as the dream world. Either that or she pissed herself, which she felt unlikely because of the lack of spread.

She sighed and pushed the covers off of herself. The light switch was flipped upward and the sweatpants fell to the floor. She peeled off the soaked panties and set them on her bathroom floor (she also had her own bathroom after the Emily family moved to a new house in early November, one the man had still yet to find). She turned around to leave and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Now just in her long-sleeve shirt, she realised she had to pee (something she had to do often while pregnant) and sat down on the toilet. As she did so, she shamefully stared at the discarded underwear

"The fuck was that?" she asked herself.

Charlie was straight, or at least she thought she was, and had a boyfriend. A boyfriend whose child she was bearing. So why was she having strange and random sexual fantasies about her best friend?

She couldn't comprehend it. Once she had finished, she returned to her bedroom and put the sweatpants back on, not bothering to replace the underwear she had left laying on the bathroom floor. She turned out the light and returned under the covers.

"The fuck was that?" she asked herself again, this time in her mind. She stared at the ceiling, still a thousand thoughts circulating through her mind. Many of which came to the same conclusion.

She awoke the next morning the same way she did every morning. A horrible urge to pee, which she did hastily. Once she relieved herself, she went downstairs to check what was being made for breakfast. 

Downstairs, her mother stirred away at scrambled eggs while her father oversaw toast production. Sammy sat on the couch with the twins. Despite being a middle schooler, he binged the Saturday morning cartoons with his younger siblings with passion and excitement. 

"Mother to be," Vanessa said to her daughter, greeting her. Charlie cringed at the statement, but it wasn't factually incorrect. 

"Mother."

Vanessa didn't enjoy the fact that her daughter greeted her as mother, but she also understood that she had just greeted her daughter as 'mother to be', and quickly gave up on caring about the subject. 

"Breakfast to be ready soon," Henry explained, watching the toaster like a hawk. 

"Henry," Vanessa asked her husband as the eggs were distributed evenly between each plate, "may I ask what that horrifying abomination in the garage is?" 

"Oh that," Henry laughed, "that's blackbird!"

"Blackbird. And what exactly does blackbird do?" 

"He's an animatronic that kids can confess mistakes and regrets to, and he'll analyze their regrets and give them a targeted response on how to make amends."

"Not going to ask."

"Charlie helped with the programming."

"Charlie!?" 

"What can I say, I'm gifted," Charlie replied, "even if the design is horrifying."

"With that gift," Henry began, placing a hand on his daughters shoulder, "you're going to take this company to new heights. Speaking of which, we secured the Super Bowl Ad."

"Nice," Sammy said from the couch.

"Super soup!" Jackie giggled.

"Yes Jackie," Henry laughed, "super soup."

"You going to tell John today?" Vanessa asked her daughter.

"Yes," she confirmed, "at Olive Garden, at noon."

"Why Olive Garden?" her mother asked her.

"Breadsticks."

"I see." 

"I just hope he doesn't get mad. I mean it was his idea, so if there's anyone to be mad at its himself."

"You agreed," Vanessa reminded her daughter, "the responsibility falls on the both of you."

"You're right," Charlie sighed. She looked down at her developing child and sighed once more.

Charlie left that morning before Henry's phone rang....

*****

John woke up at the sounds of Marla falling out of his bed, taking all the bed sheets with her.

"Ow," she winced.

"Nice work," John laughed, still groggy from having just woken up.

"Shut up."

John then realised how cold it was, "give me back the bedsheets!"

"No way!" she replied, laughing, "you're not the only one that's cold."

"Guess I'll just have to get dressed then," John sighed, standing up.

The six foot tall Senior was completely naked, from head to toe. His only protection from the unforgiving cold that never seemed to leave his room were his bedsheets, and Marla. Neither of those things were protecting him at the moment. 

"Your floor is warm, I might just stay down here forever," Marla muttered.

John put on a pair of work jeans and a brown sweatshirt, which he hoped would warm him up faster than a normal shirt. Once dressed, he walked back towards his nightstand to check his cell phone. The top notification was a text from his mother informing him that she had to work an extra shift that day, and was leaving for work. The notification below that was from Charlie.

**We need to talk. This is by far the most serious discussion we will have had up to this point, and it is of the utmost importance that you meet me at Olive Garden at exactly noon.**

John rolled his eyes at her robotic, over-formal writing style. 

"Charlie wants to meet me at Olive Garden of all places at noon, says it will be the 'most serious discussion we will have had up to this point, and it is of the utmost importance that I meet her at Olive Garden at exactly noon'" John explained to Marla.

"Have fun!" Marla joked, "and BREAK. UP. WITH. HER!" 

"Only if you get off my floor and get dressed," he replied.

"Fine," she groaned.

*****

**Okay this one takes place the previous night, but I had to space it out for pacing and all that.**

Burke's car came to a stop in the parking lot of the abandoned high school, which had been replaced by the new high school. Construction crews who were modifying it to become a private high school were off enjoying Christmas Break while Burke, Larson, Powell, Roberts, Dunn, and Huminez were investigating phantom leads.

"Remember, we're looking for Rebecca Simmons body."

Night had begun to fall, so Dunn handed everyone flashlights to better see in the darkness. 

"This is too... creepy," Powell commented, shining his flashlight up at the abandoned excavator.

"Oh come on," Burke laughed, "nothing creepy about investigating an abandoned construction site for corpses in the dark." 

"Guys!" Larson yelled, "I found her..."

"Where?" Sheriff Burke called out.

"I'm shining my flashlight like an autistic child, that's who I am."

"Oh yes, I see," Burke muttered, walking towards the dancing flashlight. 

"Oh fuck..." Huminez stammered, "where the fuck are her eyes?"

"Really?" Roberts snapped, glaring at Huminez, "is that really the best thing to ask?" 

"We need to get this to the crime lab," Burke announced, "and someone try and come up with a sensical explanation as to why they thought a construction site was the best place for this."

The officers and detectives returned to station at nine, and sat around waiting until ten for the forensic analysis to be completed.

At 9:42 Clay's desk phone rang. Everyone huddled around his desk as he answered and set it to speaker.

"Sheriff Burke."

"Clay! Where are you?" Betty demanded to know.

"Betty sweetie," Clay sighed, "we have a lead on the Simmons case. We have her body."

"Oh shit," Betty replied, "I'll leave you to that."

At 9:58 his phone rang a second time.

"If this is Betty," Larson muttered from the bench he was sitting on. Each of the officers and detectives were growing tired. 

"Sheriff Burke."

"It's Simmons," The forensic scientist, Dr. Phineas Taggart, announced, "and this is the surprising part." 

"We're waiting," Larson barked.

"We've also got the DNA of Jenny Emily."

"What? Henry's sister. Roberts daughter?"

"That's the one," Dr. Taggart confirmed, "I have no idea why, but she's related to the case." 

"Well then, should we put out a warrant?" Detective Roberts asked.

"I'm tired, let's do it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is Saturday," Officer Huminez complained, "I don't work Saturdays."

"I don't care, I expect you here at nine and we are going to arrest Jenny Emily." 

*****

At 11:55 a.m., John reached Olive Garden. He had no car, and had to walk to the Olive Garden. He thought about asking Marla for a ride, but didn't want to be seen by Charlie in the passengers seat of Marla's car. Especially during a serious discussion of the utmost importance.

He still couldn't take that text seriously. 

Stepping into the Olive Garden, John immediately spotted Charlie, who was sitting in the back corner eating breadsticks. He sighed, and then began his walk towards her.

"John!" she called out, setting her breadstick down onto her plate, "I'm glad you're here."

"Charlie," he replied, "what's so important?"

"Let's order first," she suggested, "I'm hungry."

 _"You're always hungry,"_ he thought. 

John was unsure why he was still with Charlie, he had tried to get rid of her in September, and it didn't work. Now, he could try and get rid of her today if he used whatever she said to his advantage. It was a risky, and asshole solution, but it was a solution he'd be willing to take if it meant freedom. 

"What can I get you two today?" the waiter, Toby asked getting out his notepad and pen.

"I''ll have the eggplant parmigiana," Charlie answered.

"Uh..." John fumbled to get his menu, unprepared to ACTUALLY eat at Olive Garden of all places. Charlie smirked at his confusion, and Toby gave a deep sigh.

"Chicken alfredo," John answered, going for the first thing he saw on the menu.

"Alright, I'll be back with those in about twenty minutes or so," Toby said to the duo, walking off. 

"We ordered," John pointed out.

"You're right, we did."

"So... tell me what you want to tell me," he demanded, growing impatient with her games. 

"Okay. Well.... I'm pregnant."

John immediately froze.

"Surprise."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"John," Charlie started, hoping to calm him down, "I already have everything covered financially."

"That's not what I'm concerned about. I'm concerned about the fact that I'm now tied down by a child I don't fucking want."

"I'm not killing it."

"Of course you're not. You claim you're not mormon but with how you view this fucking world you might as well be."

"What the hell is this all about?" she snapped, "I'm not a fucking mormon because I don't want to get an abortion."

"Shouldn't I get a choice in this?"

"It's my body!"

"Oh so it's my body my choice only when the choice is to keep it."

"John. Stop."

"No! I don't want a fucking kid, and I sure as hell don't want it with you!"

Charlie starred him straight in the eyes, pure anger brew within her. Other patrons of the Olive Garden all began looking at the arguing couple.

"John. What. The. Fuck?"

"I've been cheating on you with Marla since May, and I sure as hell wish I had just broken up with you back then if I had known it would have brewed into this!"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me! That fucking slut."

"She's not the one pregnant."

"Fuck you John, fuck you and fuck Marla."

Charlie stood up and stormed away from the booth. As she reached the last booth before the door, she snatched their basket of breadsticks and yelled, "I'm taking this!"

"Go ahead," the old man who owned the table replied.

She stormed off in her Jetta, visibly crying from the driver's seat.

John was left alone in the booth, nearly forty patrons staring at him in disgust. He had fucked up horribly, but his eyes it wasn't because he hurt Charlie, but because he had not only admitted to it but he admitted to it in front of an entire Olive Garden.

"What a fucking asshole," a nearby female patron commented, "you better not do that to me."

"I can't wait to tell my mormon friend about this," another patron laughed.

"I think that was John and Charlie."

That person, John recognized as Sarah Fitzpatrick, a neighbor of Charlie and a friend of gossip queen Cassidy. This would spread like wildfire by the time Christmas Break was over, and he'd never be able to face the Hurricane High School's student body again.

Broken, down, and defeated, John had fucked up, and he fucked up bad.

There was no recovering from this.

Or, so he thought....

* * *

Marcus looked down at his bed. His prized possession. A 1911 handgun sat atop his green bed sheets, fully loaded. Soon enough, it would be time to use it, but not yet. He needed to ensure that his revenge came at the perfect time, a time in which those he sought vengeance against would be rattled to their very core. 

He was unsure of when that day would come, or how it would go down, but the world would pay for what it did to him. His manifesto, two hundred straight pages of incelness that rivaled Elliot Rodger. 

His bomb threat had been a simple attempt at getting a party cancelled, a simple attempt that failed. Now, he needed something bigger. Something that would have lasting effects. Something that would actually get revenge. 

He laughed as he put on his black leather trench coat and took a glance at how he looked while wearing it in his wall mirror. He was impressed, and honestly viewed himself as cool.

On the other side of town, Robert Miller Sr. sat alone in his warehouse refreshing the news. He sat in an alleyway next to a Starbucks, using their free wifi and a VPN. Finally, the newest story updated.

**Rebecca Simmons Case Updated - Suspect, 36 year old Jenny Emily, Arrested**

He laughed. It had taken him two days to get the necessary DNA to frame her, but he had done it. He had to be extremely careful, always wearing gloves when around Rebecca to ensure that only Jenny's DNA would be traced by forensics. He closed his beaten down laptop and got up from off the ground. 

He still had much time left before his plan would truly come to fruition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact. I write these so out of order that I actively forget which plot points I've finished and which ones I haven't. 
> 
> Despite the Evan revelation, CC will continue to be called Lucas going forward. 
> 
> I Changed Dr. Phineas's profession just so I could use in universe characters.
> 
> I used the actual Hurricane Utah Olive Garden Menu.
> 
> NONE OF THIS WAS PLANNED I COME UP WITH SHIT ON THE SPOT EVERY CHAPTER!
> 
> So basically, Tis The Season is three parts... sorry about that.
> 
> By the time I realised I had to split, I had pretty equal content for both chapters so hopefully part 3 will be up quicker. 
> 
> Save The Last Dance is probably going to be four parts, and could honestly be three separate stories, but that isn't going to happen. 
> 
> Next chapter will be very Elizabeth centric.


	8. Story 5: Tis The Season Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6,000 words in 5 days is much better than previous releases.

Jenny Emily lived in a one story home on the same street as Henry and Vanessa. It was convenient to be within walking distance of her only family. Her house didn't stand out much, and it was well within view of her neighbors. Any sort of police activity in the neighborhood would have been big news, but an arrest would have been earth shattering.

Sheriff Burke was familiar with the neighborhood, he had many friends who lived in it.

He knew Jenny Emily was formally Jenny Miller, and that her father had been Robert Miller Sr. He also knew that his son Carlton had at one point been friends with Jenny's niece Charlotte. Hurricane had grown in recent years, but it was still small enough that he knew most of the large families.

The squad car came to a stop outside of her home. The second car, with Larson, Powell, and Roberts parked on the roadside while his with Dunn and Huminez parked in her driveway. The six officers and detectives exited their respective vehicles. Dunn stayed back and drew his gun, in case something were to go wrong. 

Burke knocked on the door.

"Jenny Emily, I am Sheriff Clay Burke of the Hurricane Police Department. We have a warrant for your arrest." 

There wasn't a response.

"Here, my turn," Huminez interjected, slamming on the door, "Jenny Emily!"

Mrs. Fitzpatrick stepped out onto her front porch and watched the officers try to arrest Jenny Emily.

"Where the hell is she?" Larson muttered.

"Emily!" Detective Powell shouted, "what part of you are under arrest do you not understand." 

"Well, we have an arrest and search warrant so we're coming in!" Sheriff Burke shouted.

The door swung open. On the other side, Jenny Emily. Clay noted that she had likely just woken up because of her disoriented appearance, and the fact that she was still wearing yellow sweatpants and a white tank top with a bathrobe thrown over it. He could hear coffee brewing in the background. Clay wished he could have a cup of coffee but instead he had to arrest a murderer.

"What?" she snapped.

"You're under arrest," Clay answered dryly. 

"What?"

"I'm growing rather impatient," Dunn huffed, "can I shoot her yet."

"We can't make those kinds of jokes anymore dumbass," Detective Powell shouted.

Several residents of the neighborhood had congregated on the street watching the arrest go down. Henry and Vanessa were not members of the crowd, but it was likely that they would join the group soon. One of the neighbors suggested getting the couple.

"Huminez," Clay barked, "Miranda Rights."

"On it," Officer Huminez obliged, "Larson, Powell, Roberts, come with me."

The four of them entered the home as Huminez read her the rights guaranteed to her under the fourth amendment of the United States Constitution.

"Who the fuck is Rebecca Simmons?" Jenny exploded. 

"We found her body at the old high school, and forensics has got you tied to it," Officer Huminez explained.

"Doesn't answer my fucking question jackass!" 

"Dunn, come help me!" Officer Huminez struggled, she was violently shaking trying to get out of his grasp.

Officer Dunn ran over to join Officer Huminez to transport Jenny to the squad car that Sheriff Burke had driven to the scene. 

Henry and Vanessa Emily, alongside their son Sammy broke through the crowd and ran up to the driveway of Jenny's home. Dunn and Huminez rolled their eyes at Henry's arrival.

"Henry, we have everything under control."

"What are you doing to my sister?"

"She's the primary suspect in the Rebecca Simmons case."

"Says who?"

"Forensics."

Henry's face went pale.

"Jen..."

"Nothing of note, except for a bunch of empty beer bottles!" Detective Powell announced, stepping out onto the front porch, "should probably run a breathalyzer test once we get to the station." 

"Not happening," Jenny protested from inside the squad car.

"I just realized someone's going to have to sit in the backseat with her," Huminez laughed.

"The other car has three seats in the back you brainless numpty," Dunn sighed.

"We also have this!" Detective Roberts announced, stepping out onto the porch.

"The hell is that?" Officer Dunn asked, stepping towards the porch.

"Blood stained rope, found it in the garage."

"What the hell did you do?" Henry hissed at his sister.

"Nothing!"

"Check the back of her car for bloodstains," Huminez suggested to Detectives Powell and Roberts.

"Larson's doing that as we speak." 

"Hey dumbass!" Bob Mackenzie shouted from the crowd, "you're supposed to wear gloves when holding evidence!"

"Oh shit!" Detective Roberts screeched, dropping the rope onto the ground.

"You idiot," Detective Powell scoffed, "put your damn gloves on."

"Blood in the car," Sheriff Burke muttered to Powell and Roberts, walking past them. Detective Larson followed close behind, wearing black leather gloves.

"Everyone, get out of here!" Sheriff Burke called out to the group of neighbors crowding around the house, taking pictures, "Henry I'll probably have you and the family come to the station for quick questioning some point by the end of the week."

"What did you do?" Henry asked his sister once more, still unable to comprehend the situation properly. 

*****

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Jessica fumed from the passenger seat of Charlie's Jetta. After Charlie's confrontation in Olive Garden, she had collected each of her friends and they were on their way to the Hurricane Mall to distract Charlie, and also do Christmas shopping that they had all been putting off. 

Susie and Elizabeth both sat in the backseat of the Jetta, listening to Charlie's play by play of the events. 

"I knew something was wrong with Marla," Susie thought aloud, playing with her curly blonde hair.

Jessica retrieved her phone from her pocket, "time to deplatform her."

"What?" Elizabeth asked from the backseat.

"Simple, wouldn't take much work with my level of influence."

"Shouldn't Charlie have a say in this" Susie interjected, "this does concern her."

"Do it," Charlie spoke, her voice raspy and broken.

"Are you sure?" Susie asked, "destroying someone's reputation doesn't sound like something you would do."

"Have you ever been cheated on?" Charlie asked Susie. 

"N-no," she answered.

"Then you wouldn't understand. Not one bit."

"Cassidy is at Freddy's," Jessica announced, "and is willing to speak with us."

"Good," Charlie replied, flicking the turn signal switch upwards, prepared to pull onto main street.

"Glad we were so close," Elizabeth commented.

The Jetta came to a stop outside of Freddy's, and the four girls entered. Charlie and Elizabeth flashed their VIP passes, Charlie having Jessica as her second person and Elizabeth having Susie, which meant they didn't have to pay for their visit. They found Cassidy sitting at the large family booth in the back corner of the restaurant, piling parmesan cheese on top of her meat lovers pizza. Jessica waved at her, signaling their arrival. Cassidy sat in the center of the booth, leaving ample space on both sides of her.

Each of the four friends sat on different sides of Cassidy, Charlie and Elizabeth to her left, Susie and Jessica to her right. She took a bite of the first slice of her meat lovers pizza, then a sip of her Diet Coke, and finally looked up to address them.

"So, Marla Valentine," she spoke, "want to ruin her?"

"We do," Charlie spoke, "we sure as hell do."

"Someone's furious," Cassidy noted, "well you see, there are a variety of ways to do something like that. Unfortunately, most have been closed off from me."

"Why?" Susie asked, the most innocent and naive of the group. Her younger sister Samantha would often joke about how innocent she was, much to Susie's dismay. Despite this said, none of the four actually kew why, but the other three knew better than to ask.

"Things have changed, the power dynamic at Hurricane High is shifting out of my favor," she answered. She took another bite of her pizza, then returned her attention to the four.

"Can you help us? Jessica asked.

"Well the question really is, why would or why should I help you, not can I."

"When have I ever asked a favor of you?" Jessica asked, "and how many favors have I done for you?"

"You have a point," Cassidy sighed, "so, why do you want this."

"She took John from me," lamented Charlie.

Cassidy''s expression did not change. That's when Jessica realised Cassidy knew, but she kept quiet.

"I see," she nodded, "so you want me to spread rumors, ruin her reputation?" 

"Yes," Charlie confirmed, "I do."

"Well then, that wouldn't be too hard. Of course, if I was at my peak of social influence."

"Which you aren't anymore?" Elizabeth questioned, "why not?"

"Things have happened," she answered, "they haven't necessarily been ideal for my grandstanding within the community."

Charlie and her friends were unaware of the situation with Corey and Sydney. Cassidy had done a good job covering it up, spending her remaining political capital at Hurricane High ensuring it didn't get out. Sydney had split the 'popular' group in half. Half of which fell in with Cassidy, Allison, and Sarah, the other half fell in with Sydney. Jessica was neutral, primarily because she was unaware of the origins of the feud and therefore viewed it as inappropriate to involve herself. 

Cassidy removed her fake glasses and set them onto the table next to her glass of Coke, then folded her hands together, "but, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," Charlie whispered, "thank you."

"Jessica, this counts as repayments for all the favors you did for me."

"That's fine," Jessica confirmed.

The four left the table muttering about Christmas shopping, leaving Cassidy alone. Once they exited the pizzeria, she removed her phone from her handbag to find a message from Allison informing her that Charlie was pregnant. The rumor mill spread fast. Cassidy laughed, finally understanding where Charlie's rage truly stemmed from.

 _"He must be the father,"_ she thought, closing her conversation with Allison. 

*****

Elizabeth stepped out from the backseat of the Jetta carrying multiple, heavy, shopping bags in her gloved hands. She gave one final wave goodbye to her friends and waddled up the steps to the front door of the Afton residence. The ice had continued a rapid development throughout the week, and no amount of salt could fight it back. 

She reached her free hand into her purse, which was strapped around her right shoulder below the multiple shopping bags, and surfed for her keys. Open retrieving them, she unlocked the door and stepped through into her warm home. 

"I'm home!" she called out, kicking the door closed. Her boots came off after a ten second game of 'try and kick them off'.

"Come to the living room!" Lora called out. Elizabeth winced at her mother's voice, remembering the many nights her mother would react to her return with hostile attacks.

Elizabeth sighed and walked towards the living room, which was at the end of the long hallway and to the left (the kitchen was to the right). 

Once she arrived to the living room, she realized why her mother had called her in. Sitting alone on one of the couches was the six foot three terror Elizabeth only knew as her older brother. 

"Michael," she coldy muttered, "you're here early."

"Elizabeth!" he exclaimed, standing up. His arms stretched out to form a hug, which he pulled her into. Squeezing her tightly. Michael was ten inches taller than his sister, and the height difference was never more apparent than it was hugging him, "I found a flight that came a day early!" 

"You're so SHORT!" Amelia snickered. 

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, and couldn't help notice both Lucas and Lora had cracked smiles. William's cold grey eyes did not change. 

"You got back just in time," Lora revealed, wiping the smile off her face, "we were just about to decorate the Christmas tree."

Decorating the Christmas tree was the ONE thing Lora hadn't pawned off on the help, and was something she wanted to do herself.

She of course planned the other decorations, but only the tree she did herself. The only true semblance of a family.

"I just need to take my jacket off first, put these upstairs... who's that?"

Elizabeth had just noticed a red haired woman sitting on a chair next to the couch that Michael had been sitting on. The woman looked up at Elizabeth with a confused look. She wrote glasses, and thanks to her blue light protection a small purple rectangle formed in her left lense. 

"Elizabeth!" Lora snapped, "that's very rude."

"I'm Sadie," the red-haired woman answered, "Michael's girlfriend," she explained.

"Oh... that makes sense."

"Why don't you go put those upstairs," Lora turned to Elizabeth, pointing at her shopping bags, "we'll get started on the tree while you do that."

Elizabeth would be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed that they wouldn't wait for her, but she understood. If Lora had her way, Elizabeth wouldn't have been a part of the family to begin with.

She set the bags down on her desk chair, then sat at the foot of her bed. For a brief moment, the idea of her staying upstairs came across her mind, but she wiped it away as fast as it came. Her mother would never allow it, and it would leave a bad impression on Sadie, who Elizabeth knew Lora would do everything in her power to impress. If only she had been given the memo Sadie was showing up in the first place, then she'd have been more prepared at the sight of her.

Giving up on her scheme to hide away upstairs, she returned to her family downstairs. Two large blue storage containers sat on the floor of the living room, where each family member picked at for their next ornament. Sadie stood watch as her boyfriend applied a red bulb to the tree.

"Sadie dear," Lora spoke softly and politely, "you can join in."

Sadie took this as a call to action, and reached into the closest storage container for an ornament. Upon surveying the containers, she spoke.

"Do you not have any family ornaments?"

"Mom never cared much for such clutter," Michael explained, "although I'd argue it wasn't clutter..."

"Now now Michael, you know that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?" Lucas asked.

"Oh come on," Lora stuttered, "this topic is irrelevant. So Sadie, what's Christmas like in your family?"

"Well usually I celebrate it with my Mom," she began, "since it's just me and her, but this year when Mike asked me if I wanted to go with him to Utah, I agreed. It's a lot better being around people like this then wallowing in my own misery with my mother."

Lora nodded her head in understandment, Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at the irony of her choosing the Afton family of all families to find solace in. Amelia kicked Lucas in the shin for his involvement in the conversation. In retaliation, Lucas punched her in the side of the head, which caused her to scream.

"Lucas!" Lora chastised, "what was that?"

"Why would you do that!?" Amelia whined, cowering near her mother. Elizabeth saw through the facade, and hoped Sadie would as well. 

*****

Charlie parked her Jetta in the front driveway and made her way inside of he house. As she closed the door, her mother ran up to her.

"Charlie, where have you been!?" Vanessa asked, closing the door behind Charlie.

"I had a shit day," was all she uttered, her voice still raspy. 

"Jenny's been arrested."

Charlie turned around to face her mother, surprise painted all over her face. She hoped her mother was joking, but the look on Vanessa's face told her that she was NOT joking. 

"Why?"

"They've connected her to the Rebecca Simmons case."

"How!"

"A lot of undeniable DNA evidence, that's how."

"How's Dad handling this?" 

"Not well," Vanessa answered.

Sammy came down the stairs, adjusting the collar of his dress shirt.

"What's that for," Charlie asked.

"We're going down to the station for questioning, and I want to look as professional as possible. Make a good impression for my future employers, ya' know?"

"I guess..."

"I spoke with Cindy, she can watch the twins," Henry announced, stepping into the living room from the kitchen. Charlie had never seen her father look as sad as he did that day. 

Upon arrival at the police station, Trisha Oliver checked them in and led them to the waiting room. The interior of Hurricane's Police Department hadn't changed since Henry had last been inside all those years ago, and the memories it brought with it were unwelcomed.

Each of the Emily's sat down in a seat in the waiting area. Henry was the first to be called into questioning by Detective's Larson and Powell, which Charlie had expected. 

He spent nearly an hour with the Detectives, then her mother spent another thirty minutes with them. Charlie struggled to find a way to occupy herself. At first, she tried to get some reading done, but she could only get three sentences through her book before her mind began to wander. Then, she tried playing on her phone, but there wasn't anything in particular that could stimulate her mind enough to distract her from the events of the previous twenty four hours.

She and John were over, the father of child walked out on her. Her aunt had been arrested for the kidnapping and murder of someone at her school. It was all too much for her.

Finally, Vanessa exited the interrogation room with a smile on her face and Trisha Oliver told Charlie that it was her turn. The brunette stood up from her chair and walked towards the door her mother had come out of. Inside, Detective Larson sat in a chair on the far side of a large metal table. Detective Powell sat in an armchair in the back right corner.

"Have a seat," Larson said to her as she closed the door. She complied and sat down in the small wooden chair.

"So, you guys have an armchair in the interrogation room?"

"It was Officer Huminez's brilliant idea," Detective Powell explained to her, "but, I'm not complaining. It's rather comfortable actually." 

"So, Charlotte Reese Emily, named after your grandmother."

"That's correct."

"Charlotte, we're going to start this off very simply. We're just going to ask you a few questions about Rebecca Simmons, and then about your aunt," Detective Larson explained to her.

"Alright."

"What was your last sighting of Rebecca Simmons?"

"When she drunkenly stumbled out of Cassidy's backdoor," she answered.

"So you were at the party," Larson noted, "did your Aunt mention the party?"

"No she-uh didn't really-um... she's grown distant in recent months. We've hardly spoken since spring."

Larson nodded his head, "when was your most recent conversation with your aunt."

"Last night on the phone when I told her I was pregnant."

Larson's eyes widened with surprise, the great Detective Larson hadn't even noticed her baby bump. He quickly changed his expression back to that of a blank slate, and looked up from his yellow legal-notepad.

"And how did, act."

"She seemed, off--if that makes any sense. It felt like she wasn't processing any of my words correctly. She forgot things I told her at the start of our call."

"When did you call her?"

"Five."

"When did the call end?"

"Five thirty."

Larson glanced at Powell, who gave him a nod. Satisfied, the detective returned his attention to the teenager. 

"I see. Why do you think your Aunt chose Rebecca?" Larson the asked. Charlie leaned back in her chair.

"I have no idea."

"Did you have an association with Rebecca?"

"No."

"Did your Aunt exhibit suspicious activity back in September?" 

"We started seeing her less in June, but nothing different in September."

"I see," Larson commented. 

"Do you think your Aunt called in the bomb threat to Hurricane High School back in September?"

Charlie became flabbergasted at such a question, "obviously not," was all she felt was necessary to answer the question. 

"Then who did?"

"Marcus Browne."

"Why do you believe that?"

"Because he's an incel."

"I'm not even going to try and figure out what an incel is, why do you actually believe it?"

"It happened only a few hours after I rejected him. He's weird, quiet, and posts creepy things online ever since that day."

"Suspicious activity, Powell I thought you said you scrounged social media!?"

"Marcus Browne fell under my radar." 

"Do you actually think he did it, or is this just like what everyone else said back in September. They told us they only accused him because they thought he was weird."

"Yeah, but that was before he started posting those things."

Detective Larson glanced at his notes once more, than looked up, "we have reason to believe that the bomb threat and Rebecca Simmons kidnapping/murder are related. Do you believe that they are?"

"No. I think it was by pure coincidence." 

"You are dismissed."

*****

Each of the Afton's stood in a line, dressed to meet Lora's unrealistic expectations. The men all wore the same outfit, and Lucas threw an absolute temper tantrum over having to die his hair back to brown. The women however, were different. Lora and Amelia both wore the same dress while Elizabeth wore a seperate one. They were similar style, however Elizabeth's went up to her shoulders and completely, whereas Lora and Amelia's both revealed deep cleavage. Elizabeth knew why this was the case. Amelia and Lora both had something to show off, and therefore Lora would show it off. Elizabeth didn't, and therefore she was shamed into wearing something different. 

The gala was an hour off from starting, and the Afton family were in the car on their way to the Community Center. Lora insisted on being as early as possible while not being too early that it became annoying. This made a good impression and increased reputation as an orderly individual she'd claim. Elizabeth rolled her eyes at her each time she said this, and she could have sworn she saw Amelia roll her eyes as well. 

Charlie's outfit for the night was the same as originally planned, even if it showed her baby bump. Vanessa had made all possible warnings to attendees, and told Charlie to hold her head high. Charlie hoped that the night would be done with quickly, so she could go back to bed. She had come to terms with her dream after he encounter with John, and desperately wanted more. 

Cassidy Reynolds sat in the backseat of her family's limousine. Her mother had dolled her and Elaine up as sexy puppets. They looked more like Victoria's Secret models than young women, both still in school. Cassidy played on her phone for most of the ride, without a care for the actual event. She'd rather spend her night with Nole then at a charity gala abused by her parents to appeal to anyone who had negative opinions about them. 

But they donate so much to charity! How could they be bad?

"I could tell you a couple of ways," Cassidy thought, pressing her index and middle finger against where her cut had been covered with makeup. Thomas noticed this.

"Don't touch it."

The Reynolds' limousine came to a stop outside the Community Center. The door was opened by Calvin, the servant, and out came Thomas, Sophia, Elaine, and Cassidy Reynolds. Gavin the driver drove off to find an adequate location to park. The press, which consisted of just the few trashy tabloids and the local news station (and of course the bloggers who weren't entirely sure what they were doing or why), had gathered around the entrance to capture photographs of the perfects. 

The reporters had gathered around the front entrance to watch the families and attendees enter the Community Center. Thomas had trained his children to pose for the cameras correctly, and both Cassidy and Elaine were doing so, as trained. 

The Emily's and Afton's were already inside at their designated tables. The empty seat originally intended for Jenny stood out like a sore thumb to any of those aware of the situation that had transpired the day prior. 

At the Afton table, William, Lora, Michael, Sadie, Elizabeth, Lucas, and Amelia each sat in their respective seats, saying nothing to one another. 

As the Reynolds passed by, Cassidy flashed a thumbs up to Charlie, signaling that she had done her part. Charlie mouthed a 'thank you' and returned her attention to reading the handout she was given on her way in. 

The twins were not with the Emily's. They were too young for an event such as the charity gala, and therefore they were left with a sitter. This time, they were left with Cindy Mackenzie, who was being paid two hundred dollars an hour. 

"Welcome everyone to the thirty-fifth annual Hurricane Utah Charity Gala for Sick Children and Other Causes That Need a Lot of Money," the organizer of the event, City Council Member Richard Bergstrom. 

"I would like to extend a thanks to Dr. Henry Emily, this is his thirteenth consecutive year attending this gala, breaking the record previously held by the founder of this event. Dr. Emily has also continued to be the most charitable attendee of this gala." 

Henry smiled, while Lora and Thomas glared at him with envy. 

"Wait staff will begin taking orders within the next ten minutes." 

Elizabeth twiddled her thumbs and waited for the wait staff, who were technically independent contractors, if there were waiters who served as independent contractors, which there aren't. Essentially, they were waiters who worked at various restaurants in Hurricane, and were hired by the Community Center to work the night. 

The snow started to fall outside, the weather lady had mentioned snow, but not on a large scale. Snow didn't matter much to Elizabeth, because snow days weren't on the horizon (not like she enjoyed an extra day at home).

"I've never seen so much snow before," she revealed, mesmerized by the blizzard forming. 

"Where are you from?" Elizabeth asked.

"California."

"Where do you think Stanford is dumbass," Amelia whispered to her sister. Elizabeth had forgotten the correlation between the two. 

"Snow is a regular occurance in the winter here in Hurricane," Lora explained, "the best part of the midwest, we get snow, but not a crazy amount."

Sadie nodded her head, understanding how the winter precipitation of the midwestern United States functioned. 

Cassidy stood up from her seat and declared that she had to use the bathroom. She waited for her father's nod of approval and then walked off towards the bathroom door. Inside, Allison Burke leaned against the back wall of the bathroom playing on her phone.

"Allie!"

She didn't acknowledge her friend. 

"Okay now you're just being difficult," she groaned.

"Look at this."

Cassidy focused her attention on the screen of Allison's iPhone 11 Pro Max, which displayed a series of text messages between Allison and Kimberly Bergstrom.

 **Allison:** What's the Sydeny situation?

 **Kimberly:** Actively angry

 **Allison:** Obviously, what's going on inside?

 **Kimberly:** They're hatching some kind of scheme. Every day more and more people are falling in with them, and if y'all don't do something quick enough...

 **Allison:** What kind of scheme?

 **Kimberly:** Something involving Marcus Browne. That's all Amber would tell me.

Cassidy laughed, "nothing to worry about, not yet at least."

"The hell could they possibly have planned with Marcus?" Allison wondered, "Kim seemed to not have a decent hypothesis."

"Hypothesis is such a random word for someone like you to use."

"My parents use it all the time..."

"Your mom's the DA and your dad's the Sheriff that should tell you all you need to know."

"Anyways, have any ideas?"

"Probably abusing his lack of a social standing to garner new members. But how, and why the hell would they want him?"

A middle aged woman stepped through the bathroom door and brushed passed Cassidy to reach a bathroom stall. Their conversation was completely ruined by the woman decision to start watching cat videos.

"What the fuck?" Allison mouthed.

"I don't know!" Cassidy mouthed back.

"Let's go," Allison suggested, "she kind of ruined the mood."

"Well excuse me," the middle aged woman muttered to herself.

"Yeah," Cassidy agreed, opening the door, "that's a good idea. Ladies first."

"We're both..."

"Just go."

"So, what's the Marla situation?" Allison asked as the two walked back towards their respective tables.

"The word is spreading, everyone will be talking about it by tomorrow... probably."

"You're starting to doubt your influence."

"This isn't my downfall, just a slip up."

"Yeah, okay," Allison patted her on the back, then sat down in her seat. Cassidy returned to her own, just in time for the wait staff.

As the civil war brew, Elizabeth was more focused on trying to get through the night without Amelia making a snide comment every minute of her life. Lora was too busy explaining the inner workings of precipitation to Sadie, and Michael and William seemed disconnected from reality. Neither of them actually wanted to be their. None of them did, the only one who enjoyed charity events was Henry. William enjoyed the principle of donations, but disliked the festivities that surrounded them.

Lucas hated everyone and everything.

The wait staff arrived and took everyone's orders, then walked away to deliver them to the cooks. 

Lora finally directed her attention to the entire table, "Christmas in a couple days."

"If you consider three a couple, which is a synonym for two, then yes, that would be accurate," Michael corrected. Lora looked daggers at him. Amelia began damage control.

"I don't really think it matters," she stabbed the heel of her high heels into Elizabeth's toes, which were in flats, "most people refer to couple as two or three, or even four."

"That's... not accurate whatsoever."

Elizabeth struggled to hide the pain that came with having your toes stabbed by a long sharp hard shoe heel. Sadie could feel something was off about her, but couldn't exactly pin those feelings on anything in particular. Lora knew. It was highly unlikely she actually saw it, but she knew Amelia did something, and she smiled.

"Why are we even arguing about this?" Sammy groaned.

"That's funny," Amelia smiled, tilting her head to the side, "I don't remember inviting you to this conversation. Brother."

"Okay. Half Sister."

Sadie's face filled with surprise to say the least. Lora's gasp was noticed by the nearby tables, who gave the Afton clan a quick cautionary glance before returning their attention to their conversation topics. William's expression changed not, he simply stirred his straw in his ice water.

"It's painfully obvious," Lucas then continued, "if I had to make a guess, I'd say the governor."

This got the attention of Thomas Reynolds.

"What did you say boy?" the governor asked, staring Lucas in the eyes.

"I wasn't talking to you jackass."

"LUCAS!" Lora reprimanded, "absolutely out of line." 

"That boy is very rude," the governor commented, "perhaps he shouldn't be here."

"I belong more than you do."

"William, do something!" Lora snapped, "before the boy gets us kicked out of these!" 

"Luke," William spoke softly, "now is not the time, and this is not the place."

"You soft ass stockholm motherfucker."

His eyes widened, "what was that son?"

"You have stockholm syndrome, and you're a bitch," Lucas whispered, pointing to his mother. Now he was trying to being secretive. Elizabeth finally realised, despite his tough talk he was still scared to actually reveal what Lora did to the public. 

"Will someone shut that kid up!" another attendee of the gala asked his wife, speaking with a booming voice, "he is absolutely intolerable."

"What is with you tonight!" Lora asked, "why are you being such a fucking asshole?" 

"Because you are."

"I need to use the bathroom," Lora declared. She stood up and walked off, heels clicking off the floor. Amelia dashed from her seat to follow her mother into the bathroom. Sadie, the poor girl confused as ever, turned towards her boyfriend and asked, "what is going on?"

"What always goes on in this family."

Elizabeth stood up from her seat and walked away from the table towards the side exit of the Community Center. Charlie watched her walk off, and turned to face her mother.

"Can I go..."

"Yes," Vanessa answered, "just, be quick." 

"I will," she assured, standing up to follow her best friend.

Elizabeth stood alone at the side of the building, without windows, and stared off at the storm berating Hurricane. 

"What's going on?" Charlie asked, standing next to her friend.

"Just my family being horrible," she answered, "so the usual."

"Oh come on, can't be that bad..." 

"They're all assholes, and for sure none of them love me." 

"Well I love you."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean."

"Do I?"

 _"Is she egging me on?"_ Charlie thought to herself.

"You do."

"Because I love can mean many things, and usually between to non-family members..."

"Okay fine..." she muttered.

"What was that?" Elizabeth asked smiling, "what did you say?"

"I said.. _i love you_." 

"Huh?"

"I love you okay! I LOVE YOU!" she shouted.

Elizabeth couldn't have been more happy.

"I know love is strong, but I've known you since diapers! Through everything, not getting the lead role in Romeo and Juliet, a teen pregnancy, a breakup with the father. You've always been here and now I've truly realized I love you."

Charlie and Elizabeth stared one another in the eyes. Neither entirely sure how to proceed. All that Elizabeth knew was that she was no longer thinking about her family.

Finally, the two exchanged a long, passionate kiss. 

* * *

The man took a step forward. It was rare he left the abandoned warehouse he had called home. It wasn't the greatest home, but he enjoyed it. Rebecca Simmons was long dead, it simply became too much for him to care for the both of them, and therefore she died. The man deeply regretted this decision, not because he felt bad for doing so but because he already missed her, and what she could provide him with. 

His stalking of the Emily's had been halted, as he was unable to locate their new home. He could if he wanted to, but is was easier to be spotted if her trailed Charlie home from school, or Henry and Vanessa home from work. And to be honest, he didn't feel like doing it. 

That night however, would provide a perfect opportunity to do so. 

He knew they would be at the Community Center for the gala, so he drove his beaten down sedan to the Walmart parking lot half a mile away, and then walked to the Community Center. He had to be careful, but he also knew he was putting a great distance between himself and his escape vehicle. 

Standing atop a hill in the distance, he held a pair of binoculars. They allowed him to see Elizabeth and Charlie's kiss. 

He laughed.

"That's why you raise them right Henry."

"What're you doing?"

The man jumped. A short teenager holding a cellphone looked up at him with confusion.

"I'm standing guard," he lied, "if the Community Center has such esteemed people in it, it is only natural that I protect it. The real question is, what are you doing out here?"

"Watching them," he answered, pointing at Elizabeth and Charlie.

"Kid that's creepy."

"You were doing it too," the teenager pointed out, "at least I wasn't getting off to it."

The man growled, ready to murder the boy. He could, and likely would get away with it. But was it worth it? 

No. No it wasn't. 

"Why were you watching them?" the man asked, hoping the kid could redeem himself. 

"I'm planning."

"Planning what?"

"Why should I tell you?" the boy asked, "you're just a creepy stranger."

"Because I'm planning something too, and I was hoping to find someone who's goals align with mine." 

"Revenge!" the boy declared, "Revenge against the world that took so much from me. Revenge against the world that ridiculed me, outcast me, shunned me. Revenge against the world that took Charlie from me. Twice."

The boy looked up at the man, "the bomb threat was just a test. Next time, there will be blood."

"Jesus Christ kid."

The man realized that he was speaking to a future school shooter, and the responsibility fell upon him to either stop a school shooting, or ignore it. Although, another idea came to his mind.

Weaponize it.

"Kid," the man spoke, "perhaps I can help you."

"How so?"

"You see that girl? Charlie?" he asked, pointing at the brunette woman, who was walking back towards the Community Center hand in hand with a thinner and shorter blonde women, "she's my granddaughter. And it's about time I get revenge against her father. And you, are the only person who can help me."

Marcus didn't understand what the man truly wanted, but anyone willing to support him was enough. Anyone who saw the flaws in the system as he did, and anyone who was willing to try and fix them. Even if it meant getting bloody.

"Then I guess we're partners."

The man laughed, already plotting how he could use Marcus to his advantage. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it finally happened.
> 
> All will be revealed and solved in Save The Last Dance, whether that be Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, or Part 4. 
> 
> Don't get used to these quick releases, this is only because I split the story in half while writing Part 2, and therefore already had 2,000 words done. That, and I really felt like I should finish it in close proximity to Part 2 since I didn't say beforehand that it would be 2 parts. 
> 
> This and Permission Slip are probably tied for my least favorite entries.


	9. Story 6: Save The Last Dance Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With prom looming closer, Elizabeth, Charlie, and Cassidy prepare in different ways. Marcus and Robert come ever closer to achieving their righteous retribution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for exaggerated high school drama!

Mrs. Gwent stood before her Senior College English Class, back faced to them, writing on the whiteboard. In the second semester, their English class had been moved to the last period of the day due to a scheduling conflict with Mrs. Gwent's incoming Freshman English class, which was only one semester long. That May afternoon had been a particular scorching one, the rays of sunshine brought great discomfort to Elizabeth, who wore jean shorts and a cream colored short sleeved v-neck. Beads of sweat stuck to her forehead, and she was using her statistics notebook to fan herself. To her right, Charlie took a large gulp from her large thermos, which had been filled to the lid with iced tea. Elizabeth had noticed that Charlie had begun to obsessively drink iced tea in recent months.

Elizabeth had finished her bottle of smart water during fourth period, which was her psychology class, and was unable to reach the bottle refill machine in the cafeteria in between periods. Perhaps it was time to start bringing two bottles of water to school, or to ask her Dad to lend some money to buy proper air conditioning systems. When they rebuilt Hurricane High, they had installed state of the art ventilation systems, but didn't actually use air conditioner because of how expensive they were to run on such a large scale. 

Mrs. Gwent finally turned to face the class, "your final assignment in this class to write a fifteen page paper comparing at a minimum of two protagonists from two of the books we read this year, although more are welcome."

The entire class groaned, Oswald and Kenny's being the loudest. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at Charlie's groan. Traditionally, Charlie never complained about her English work, and many times rejoiced in it. 

"Save your groans for someone who actually cares," Mrs. Gwent snapped, unaffected by the heat wave strangling Hurricane Utah, "you have twenty-five days to complete the assignment. The rubric is rather large, but nothing you all can't handle. You chose to take a college level course, so except the consequences of your actions." 

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Mrs. Gwent handed out the rubric to each student in the class, then returned to her desk to grade papers. Elizabeth was mortified by the requirements of the rubric.

"I can't do this," she whispered to Charlie, "this is just... too much."

"For once," Charlie whispered back, "I might not get an A." 

"Afton. Emily. No talking!" Mrs. Gwent chastised. Sarah Fitzpatrick turned to face the two and mouthed 'no talking' while smiling her ass off.

Elizabeth and Charlie both burst into silent laughter.

The bell rang, finally bringing the period to an end. Everyone in the class quickly departed from the room, desperate to be out of the heat pocket. Elizabeth and Charlie walked together to the main staircase, which spiraled down into the main lobby. By now, Charlie was eight and a half months along, and her baby was set to be born before graduation, which Charlie had been praying for. Having your infant child attend your high school graduation is less embarrassing then being pregnant at graduation in her eyes. 

"Mrs. Gwent is the worst teacher I've ever had," Elizabeth declared, "absolute worst."

"You haven't had Ms. Linthort," Charlie pointed out, "she is even worse."

"I do not see how that is possible."

"How's my favorite programming prodigy!?" Susie asked, jumping into position on Charlie's left, "once I finish this last sketch, the app is ready to go tomorrow."

"I still don't know what this app is," Elizabeth told the duo, "like is it a game?"

"It's actually a...."

"Things are getting worse!" Cassidy declared, appearing to Elizabeth's right, "Sydney has latched herself to Marla, she has something planned. Holly Allen joined her today."

"I don't see how this affects any of us," Julia called out, appearing behind Charlie.

"If Sydney has something planned involving Marla, that affects all of you."

"High school drama that only happens in movies," Charlie said to Cassidy, "ignore it."

"I can't. We have a month left of school, there is a lot of time for something to happen, especially with the tensions that have brewed."

Elizabeth didn't fully understand the inner workings of the civil war between the two factions, but it seemed that almost everyone in the school, including herself, had chosen someone to throw their weight behind. At first, because she was the original "Great Empress", Cassidy had been the larger of the two, by a long shot. As Sydney worked, and bit by bit chipped away at Cassidy's clique, very quickly did the tides turn to be an even split, and continued to turn in Sydney's favor. If this had not been Cassidy's last year at Hurricane High, she'd have been panicking even more than she already was.

"Here comes Charlie!" Jason called out, "wide load coming through, clear the halls!"

"Hey jackass!" Cassidy erupted, turning to face Jason, "how about you fuck off before I fuck over your life permanently." 

"Jesus Christ, it was just a joke," Jason scoffed, walking away from the group.

"Don't let him get to you," Cassidy comforted Charlie, "he's just an asshat looking for attention."

"Oh I'm well aware of that," Charlie replied.

The group reached the Student Parking Lot, where Elizabeth broke off from them and began her walk home. She still did not have a car, or even a license thanks to her mother. The walk home was much better when it warmed up, because the icy sidewalk was gone, and there were more people out and about. There were still people sprawled throughout the many streets she had to travel, but the heat made the trip unbearable. She passed the Circus Baby's Pizza World, which was on her way, and then the Freddy's, which was also on her way home.

Finally, at the front walkway of her home, she came to a stop and opened the mailbox. As she had suspected, there was mail inside, which meant her mother had not checked it that day. Lora did little to contribute to society during the day, because most sports games/PTA meetings/events were held in the late afternoon and at night. If she hadn't checked the mail, she either wasn't home, or was locked away in her room doing god knows what.

Elizabeth swiped the house key from the side pocket of her backpack and unlocked the front door, allowing entry into the house. She set the mail down onto the kitchen counter, then made her way upstairs to her bedroom. Her backpack landed onto her bed, and her sneakers leapt into the air after being kicked off her feet. 

"Let's at least try to get some work done," she said to herself, sitting into her desk chair and activating her desktop computer, but as the Microsoft Word document was created, her head fell into the keyboard.

"I hate this fucking class."

*********

Marcus departed the from the side entrance of Hurricane High School and snuck through the woods to the adjacent Freddy's back alley, where Robert was waiting for him. He and Marcus had met in that back alley every day after school since late March to discuss their plan, and properly map things out. 

"Marcus!" Robert barked as Marcus came out from the treeline.

"Yes partner?" Marcus asked enthusiastically. 

"We can't keep stalling. If we don't do this before Jenny's trial then I can't get my revenge. And if I can't get my revenge, then I doubt you'll be getting yours."

"Look, I told you, I'm not ready. There's pieces that are still falling into place. Cassidy and Sydney are on the verge of full out way. THEN I strike."

"Why does that matter?"

"Because silly," Marcus said, tapping Robert's nose, "the war is about Charlie, and Charlie is a centerstone of our plan is she not?" 

Robert swatted away Marcus's finger, then crossed his arms trying to figure out how significant a war between two high school girls could possibly impact his plan in a positive light. 

"She is," Robert agreed, "but I don't understand..."

"And, if we use this to our advantage, then it shouldn't be too hard to get our revenge."

"How?"

"That's a good question. Chaos in Hurricane High would make my righteous retribution easier to pull off," Marcus explained, "and surely this must all be having a negative impact on Charlie's mental health. Cassidy and Sydney as well, so killing the three of them at their lowest benefits both of us."

"I don't care about Cassidy and Sydney," Robert reminded the teenager, "just the Emily's."

"Of course. Charlie is an Emily. And remember, I'm giving you important information on Charlie." 

"I gave you the gun," Robert reminded Marcus, "and I gave you money."

"Where the hell did you get that by the way?" Marcus asked, "aren't you living in a warehouse and unemployed."

"That is not relevant to our current discussion," Robert refused to answer.

"Which means it isn't conventional," Marcus reasoned, "fun."

"There is nothing fun about what I do," Robert rolled his eyes.

"Am I dismissed?" Marcus asked Robert.

"Yes."

Marcus returned to the woods he came from, leaving Robert alone in the alleyway. Now alone, Robert began to walk back to his car, which had been parked in the parking lot of the nearby gas station. He got into the front seat and started the Chevy, driving off. 

"That kid is a fucking idiot," he groaned.

When he had first decided to work with Marcus, he had intended for the boy to simply be a distraction. His little school shooting would keep the cops swamped so he could wipe out the Emily's without detection. While Jenny's trial wasn't the end all be all deadline, it would mean he couldn't frame Jenny for the murder, nor could he reveal to Jenny what he had done that night, forever imbedding her with the knowledge that her father had come back for revenge. Marcus was just supposed to be a distraction, a disposable meat sack.

But the boy not only viewed himself as equal to Robert, but as the star of the night. While the shooting would have drawn attention more than the murders, that was always the intention. The murder of the Emily's shouldn't have been the main event of the night.

The plan was still on track, as long as Marcus actually met his end of the deal before Jenny's trial. They only thing that could possibly derail it is if Marcus was unable to or chose not to kill himself, and was able to confess to the police his involvement. That, plus Jenny's testimony would put him in the ground. 

*********

John whistled as he walked through the side door of Hurricane High, swaying his arms back and forth as if he were the happy go lucky character in a cheesy sitcom. He passed a group of shady students likely trading drugs and made his way to his old Chevy truck sitting in the Student Parking Lot. Marla was already sitting in the front seat, and already fiddling with the radio trying to find a station she enjoyed. John smiled at her antics, and opened the driver side door. 

"I had the radio!" Marla complained to him, "why don't you have satellite?"

"Because I'm not rich."

"Neither am I," she countered, "yet I still have it."

"You are so annoying," he groaned starting the truck.

"You love me," she smiled, patting him on the shoulder.

"I do," he answered, "doesn't change how annoying you are."

"Wow," she laughed.

John smiled while turning onto Main Street. After the encounter with Charlie in Olive Garden, he had expected his reputation to drop significantly as well as Marla's, but it seemed that did not happen. Somehow, everything remained the same. If anything, Charlie's reputation had dropped. Everyone gossiped and whispered about her, called her a slut, formed preposterous rumors about her only a first grader would believe, but not John. No mention of him, and when he was mentioned, few words were spoken of him. He was invisible, and that's the way he liked it. A guardian angel had come to his protection.

Marla was unaffected by the situation, and John figured she was cheating on him, but he didn't care. He was still her boyfriend, and primary lover, and that satisfied him. He viewed it as fair based on how long he spent in two relationships. Despite this, he did secretly resent her for it. 

"Can we go to Olive Garden" Marla asked as they approached the main intersection. 

"No," John answered, "I will never set foot in another Olive Garden." 

Marla laughed while rolling down the passenger side window. She leaned her elbow against the slit where the window went into, and her head on both her hand and the side of the window frame. The truck came to a stop at the red light. A sedan came to a stop to the right of the truck with one of their classmates sitting in the driver's seat. He rolled down his window and turned his head to face Marla.

"Marla Valentine?" the Junior asked.

"Yes," she answered.

"Show us your tits," someone in the passenger seat joked. To their surprise, she complied.

"She actually did it dude!" someone in the backseat squealed.

"Holy shit!" the driver laughed.

The light became green, and John sped off from the sedan.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, "why?"

"Because I thought it was funny," she answered, "horny teenagers are hilarious." 

"Not really," John sighed, "why can't we just be normal?"

"John," Marla sighed, "this is as normal as we're going to get," she continued, hair blowing in the wind, "you stuck with Charlie seven months, so if I want to flash some horny teenagers as a joke I will."

"And when it inevitably goes further..."

"We address that problem when we get to it," she answered patting his shoulder once more.

 _"How reassuring,"_ John thought, _"how reassuring indeed."_

*********

Charlie's Jetta came to a stop in the student parking lot of Hurricane High in between Jessica's Mercedes and Cassidy's Tesla Roadster. She removed the key from the ignition and grabbed her backpack. Her walk to the front door would normally have been no issue, but in the third trimester of a pregnancy, she hated moving. Her ankles hurt, her back ached, and she always felt fatigued. Shortly after telling her parents, her mother had taken her to get a significant amount of maternity clothes, which was all she had worn for the previous three months, including that day. 

She arrived in the front lobby, where Jessica and Cassidy were, waiting for her. Cassidy bounced off of the bench the two were sitting on to hug Charlie. Cassidy was an expressive friend, one who enjoyed hugs, perhaps a little too much for Charlie's liking.

"Woah there," Charlie said to Cassidy.

"Okay, so I think I have everything planned out. Andrew and I will meet at four, then we'll all head over to Freddy's..."

"What's she talking about?" Charlie asked Jessica.

"Prom," Jessica dryly answered. 

"I see."

"Then, we'll all..."

"Cass, I appreciate the planning, but I'm more concerned about my coming child then prom right now." 

Marcus entered the school through the front door and sat down on the bench across from them in the lobby. Behind him, Susie came through the door with an aging tablet and a stylus that had seen better days. Her eyes were glued to the screen.

"Watch it!" a Freshman snapped at Susie, who had accidently bumped into him. Susie squirmed to the bench Jessica, Cassidy, and Charlie were at without looking at the boy. 

"Earth to Susie," Cassidy joked.

"I'm almost done, and when I get this done we can release the app."

"Don't we need certification, bug fixes?"

"We already have all that," Susie answered, "technically, it should have released last week but I was unhappy with a lot of the art so I'm redoing them to look better."

Marcus browsed "edgy" 4chan memes on his phone while the girls conversated. As long as none of the girls released he was watching them, he would be in the clear. He needed to know enough that he could sell information to Sydney. That money, would come in handy helping him purchase his final hoorah. 

Standing at the balcony on the third floor that overlooked the lobby, Sydney and Kimberly watched the conversation, unable to hear what they were saying. 

"Look at her. After what she did to me, she's turns around and tries to claim Marla is horrible, and she's a goddess."

"Disgusting," Kimberly agreed.

The bell rang, and each group went to their respective classes. Because of Charlie's English being moved to last period, which would have otherwise been Economics, she was in a Study Hall first period. She had to switch to a new economics class during third period, which just so happened to be Marcus's economics class, which she viewed as some kind of twisted fate. 

She used the study hall to her advantage, and worked on the first page of the essay assigned by Mrs. Gwent. The criteria was still horrendous, but once she jotted everything down into her notebook and visualed what she wanted to say, things became easier. 

When class ended, she walked towards the bathroom in the downstairs hallway. Her second period class was AP Statistics, which was the halfway point between the cafeteria where her honors study hall had been and the Stats classroom. She set her backpack on the hook on the stall door and sat on the toilet just as three Freshman girls with vape pens in their back pockets entered the bathroom.

"Have you seen the pregnant Senior?" one of them asked, removing their vape pen from their pocket.

"Obviously," another answered, "she sticks out like a sore thumb."

"Lily told me that she fucked her cousin," the third girl revealed, removing _her_ vape pen from her back pocket. (is this how vaping works, I haven't done it nor have I seen anyone do it. Although I did find one in the bathroom). 

"No no. She fucked her brother," the first one corrected.

"No I heard it was her math teacher Mr. Brady." 

"Whoever it was, I feel bad for them," the third one explained, "she's anchoring them down by not getting an abortion." (I swear this isn't pro-life propaganda). 

"Sluts do as sluts wish," the second one groaned.

"We gotta get to class," the third one shouted suddenly, running out of the bathroom. The other two followed suit, leaving Charlie alone in the bathroom. The conversation had made her feel sick to her stomach. She quickly left the stall, washed her hands, then ran to the nurses office. Nurse Fleming was understanding of her pregnancy, and usually treated her medical problems as seriously as possible. She was given a pass to go home. The drive however had only further nauseated her. 

She pulled her Jetta off to the side of the road and opened the driver side door, falling over onto the side of the road and puking on the ground in front of her. Her feet were still on the floor of the Jetta, her knees in the dirt, and wrists on the pavement next to the vomit. She continued to gag until her stomach emptied itself completely, then finally freed her of the pain. 

A blue Chevy Spark pulled off to the side of the road behind her, and a middle aged woman stepped out of the driverseat and onto the pavement, "you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, just motion sickness," she answered, waving off the woman.

"You sure?" the woman asked.

"Yeah I was just about to get going," she answered, getting off the ground and back into the driver's seat, "thanks though."

"No problem," the woman replied, walking back to her car.

Charlie closed the door and drove off before the woman did, hoping to get home as soon as the rules of space and time allowed for her current predicament. Once she arrived, she parked her Jetta and ditched it in favor of her bed. The front door was unlocked, which meant her mother was home.

Unfortunate.

Vanessa sat on the couch with her laptop, filling out financial forms for Fazbear Entertainment when Charlie burst through the front door crying and ran upstairs. Her sudden appearance startled Vanessa, who had expected to be alone with the twins until at least three. 

She shut her laptop and discarded it on the coffee table. The most likely scenario in her eyes was that something happened, and she was upset based on the crying and the sudden return home, without warning from the school staff. She did receive one, but she hadn't checked her phone. 

Vanessa went to the kitchen and prepared a glass of iced tea, with extra ice, then set it onto a serving tray. She filled a bowl with pistachios (her favorite snack) and walked up to her bedroom. She gave the bedroom door a quick knock, declared that she was entering, then open the door. She found her daughter crying on her bed, faced away from the door and towards the wall her queen sized bed was set up against.

"I thought you might need something to eat," Vanessa announced, "and drink."

Charlie did not respond, only sobbed.

"Charlie," she spoke softly, sitting onto the bed next to her daughter. She placed a hand on her shoulder, "what's happened?"

"I can't do this anymore," she finally said, still facing away from her mother, "everyone judges me. Some pretend they don't, but I know they do. And they spread the most horrible horrendous disgusting rumors imaginable and treat them as fact." 

Vanessa sighed, reflecting on her own experiences with teenage pregnancy. 

"This child is nothing but a curse," Charlie declared.

"Charlotte Emily," Vanessa said to her, "that child is not a curse. Are you a curse?"

"No," she answered, "no, I'm not."

"I don't want to diminish your problems," Vanessa began, "but the father of my child was also my foster brother. And teenage pregnancies weren't nearly as accepted as they are today. In the last days of my Senior year, the bullying was horrible, but it was all worth it knowing you were the reward for it all. And when I saw you for the first time in the hospital, and I gazed down on your little face for the first time, and your tiny hand squeezed my finger, I knew it was all worth it. Little Mason, or little Alexis, whichever they may be, will be worth it."

"At least you had Dad," she sniffled.

"Your right," Vanessa replied, "but you have Elizabeth."

Charlie turned around to face her mother.

"How do you know about that?" she asked with haste.

"It's pretty obvious," her mother answered, "if you're worried your father and I won't accept you, you don't have to worry about that. We fully support you."

Charlie turned onto her back.

"At least that's over with," she sighed, "and Mom," she continued, taking her mother's hand, "thanks for that little speech."

She reached over to grab the glass of iced tea, and took a sip of it. 

"I can't tell you things will get better, because I don't know if they will," Vanessa continued, "but the fact that you have a million dollar job ahead of you at Fazbear Entertainment, a girlfriend who loves you, a family who supports you completely, and a little bundle of joy on the way trumps whatever anyone spreading rumors about you has set for their future."

Charlie laughed and took another sip of her iced tea, "you have a point."

"What do you usually do to destress?" Vanessa then asked, brushing Charlie's hair out of her face.

"Take a long bubble bath," she answered.

"Then take a bath. Take a nap, have a large and healthy lunch, read a book, clear your mind and enjoy your three day weekend."

"That's a good idea," Charlie responded, wiping her eyes dry, "thanks."

"Anything for you."

"I love you Mom," she told Vanessa, giving her a large hug.

"I love you too Charlie."

*********

Elizabeth and Jessica sat down at the lunch table together. That day was sloppy joe Friday, and Jessica loved sloppy joes. Elizabeth, not so much, so she loaded up on salad. She would eat it, but not all of it. 

"Where's Charlie?" Susie asked, sitting down.

"Haven't seen her," Jessica answered.

"She wasn't in Stats," Julia revealed, sitting down at the table with two sloppy joes on her tray, "Heather gave me her sloppy joe, so here you go Jessica."

"Oh, thanks."

"So is she just missing?" Elizabeth asked, concerned for the whereabouts of her girlfriend. 

"She probably got sick and went home early," Jessica reasoned, "she is eight and a half months pregnant."

"So prom," Cassidy chirped, sitting down at the table.

"What about it?" Sarah asked sitting down across from her. Allison sat down next to her, which was to Julia's left.

"Charlie's not here," Elizabeth explained to the three newcomers, "she up and vanished." 

"Probably sick," Sarah reasoned.

Elizabeth and Sarah, when they first interacted, had a very hostile relationship. When Cassidy joined the friend group in January, and bridged the gap between the two groups, she forced Sarah and Elizabeth to end their feud. The two, from their, tried their hardest to get along. Most of the time they could, but there were other times where they just couldn't to save their lives. 

"I'd say that's the best possibility," Allison agreed.

Anna Cooke then arrived at the table.

"Hi Ann!" Cassidy cheerfully greeted. 

"Hey."

"Are you excited about prom?" Cassidy asked, "because these schmucks couldn't give two shits and that saddens me."

"I'm on the decorating committee," Anna reminded her, "and if I have to hear about prom one more fucking time."

"Okay, okay, okay, sorry." 

When Anna finished her lunch, she left the table to dump it in the trash, then walked out of the lunch room not saying a word. Charlie and 

When lunch came to an end, and then the second half of fourth period (her psychology class), it was time for English with Mrs. Gwent. 

On the whiteboard, she wrote **Workshop Day** which in her class meant that they would be working independently on their writing projects. This gave her the opportunity to text Charlie, and figure out what was going on. Her laptop's screen was large enough to conceal her phone, even at the diagonal angle that Mrs. Gwent would be looking from. 

"Okay class, as you all have read it is a workshop day," she addressed the class, "where is Miss Emily?"

"Absent," Sarah answered.

"A delinquent like her _would_ be absent." 

The entire class stared at her, eyes wide.

"Anyways, workshop day. Get to it."

Elizabeth couldn't believe what she had heard. Her teacher had insulted her girlfriend in front of the entire class while she was absent, and didn't seem all too concerned about it. She removed her phone from her backpack, and began to text Charlie.

*********

Charlie woke up in her bathtub nearly three hours after he conversation with her mother. The bubbles of the bubble bath had dissipated, and her playlist **Soothing Music to Listen to in the Bath** had run its course. Her fingers and her toes were completely wrinkled. She stood up out of the bathtub and pulled the drain to empty the tub. She lifted her feet out from the tub and onto the bathmat, then reached to grab her towel. She slowly dried her body off, then walked into her bedroom to get dressed. 

Once dressed, she laid on her bed and turned on her smart tv, opened Netflix, and started playing a random Television show she had found that peaked her interest. At noon, she went downstairs to the kitchen and made herself a plate of frozen chicken tenders.

While waiting for the chicken tenders, she joined her mother in the backyard. Vanessa had been watering the flowers, and allowing their dog Pigeon some much needed outside playtime. 

"Hi!" Vanessa greeted her daughter, continuing to water the flowers. Charlie waved to her mother, then walked towards Pigeon who was running around in circles with a tennis ball in his mouth. It was hard to play with Pigeon while pregnant, so the most she could do was give him a few pats on the head.

The backyard of the Emily's new home was a large non-steep hill that led down into a forest. Pigeon was trained enough that he didn't try to run away, which was good because the Emily's didn't have a fence on their backyard. 

Vanessa finished watering the flowers and walked towards her daughter and put an arm around her, "things will get better."

"I thought you said..."

"I know now. Things will get better for you."

The two stayed on the patio until Charlie's chicken tenders were finished. While she went back upstairs to her room, Vanessa stayed on the patio to tan in the sun. 

Charlie didn't usually eat in her room, and when she did she ate at her desk, but that day was an exception. She laid on her bed, watching bad tv shows, with a plate of chicken tenders and microwavable french fries next to her. 

At 1:05, which was the beginning of her English class, her phone, which was still attached to the speaker in the bathroom, vibrated. Charlie figured it would be smart to let her worried friends know that she was okay, and that nothing bad had happened to her.

When she retrieved her phone, she found a series of texts from Elizabeth waiting for her as her most recent notifications. 

**Elizabeth ❤️❤️❤️**

**Elizabeth:** Where are you????

 **Elizabeth:** Gwent called you a deliqeunt!!!!

 **Elizabeth:**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **Charlie:** I went home early. 

**Elizabeth:** Something wrong?

 **Charlie:** Some bitches were gossiping about me in the bathroom and I just couldn't handle it anymore.

 **Elizabeth:** Who were they!?

 **Elizabeth:** I will find them 

**Charlie:** You don't have to.

 **Charlie:** I was taking a bath by the way, so that's why I didn't reply quickly.

 **Elizabeth:** Without me? 😔

**Charlie: 🤣 🤣 🤣**

**Charlie:** Next time I'll invite you.

 **Elizabeth:** I'll hold you to that

Charlie laughed. 

*********

Jenny Emily sat alone on her living room couch. She was unable to install air conditioners, and the temperature of her home suffered because of it. She wore a tank top with shorts, which revealed her ankle monitor. She had two box fans, each pointed at the couch, but they did little to help. 

She grabbed a bottle of whiskey from inside the drawer of her end table and began to chug it. Upon emptying it, she slammed it down onto a coaster, and jumped off of the couch. It was three o'clock on a Friday afternoon, which meant that Harry would be on his way with her resupply. A good thing too, because that bottle of whiskey was the last of her alcohol. Except for her secret stash, the ones the cops were incapable of finding during their multiple sweeps of the house. That was being saved for her final day before the trial. Her final hoorah.

She walked into her bedroom, which was a mess, and opened the back window. She could see main street from her back window. Her house was on a hill, and at the bottom of the hill was a large field. At the end of that field was Main Street. Tall grass and buildings obstructed the view from most people on main street from seeing her backyard, which she was thankful for. The field provided a useful path for Harry to take.

She could see him, walking towards her house pulling a wagon behind himself. He had a car, but couldn't make a scene. For five hundred dollars a week, it was more than worth it to make these trips for her in his eyes.

He arrived at the window, and began handing her the packs of beers and bottles of whiskey and wine. Jenny Emily might have been innocent of Rebecca Simmons murder, but she was still an alcoholic, and no amount of house arrest or investigations would change that. 

With the last of the alcohol in her bedroom, she grabbed the twenty-five twenty dollar bills from her nightstand and handed it to him. He counted it again to ensure that she hadn't stiffed him, although she had never intentionally done so. She may or may not have been drunk a few times while counting and gave him a bill or two few little here and there. Nothing significant, and nothing she couldn't have repaid.

When she had first been put under house arrest, and promptly fired from her job at the local insurance company, Henry had agreed to pay the property tax, and bills. Jenny had a significant amount of money saved up, being a single woman in her late thirties without children working a good paying job, and used that to pay for necessities, including Harry's fees, and her alcohol. Harry was originally just her errand boy, as neither Henry or Vanessa wanted to do it, but quickly he became both errand boy and alcohol boy. 

Harry originally volunteered to do it out of sheer generosity, but once the money started rolling in he committed to the job. 

Her relationship with him was a peculiar one. She was thirty-six, almost thirty-seven, and he was twenty-four. Most of his time with her was doing chores for her, and being paid well for simply running alcohol to her. The two engaged in an on and off romance over the course of the previous four months, and to Jenny's disappointment they were in an off period. She had never found a man like Harry, despite her twenty-two years of searching. Ricky at the insurance company had been a contender, but he had his own set of issues. Internally, it pained her that Harry was the first man she had sex with in almost seven years. 

"Thank you Harry," Jenny thanked the young man.

"No problem Jenny. Happy to do it," he replied, placing the five hundred dollars into the pocket of his cargo shorts, "I'll be off now."

"Bye!" she called out, before closing the window. Now alone, she began to chip away at her new stockpile of alcohol. 

*********

Marcus and Robert met in the back alley of Freddy's once more. Marcus removed a wad of cash from his backpack and waved it around in front of Robert with a large smile on his face. The elderly man glanced at the cash, then removed an even larger wad of cash from the pocket of his jeans.

"Where do you get that from?" Marcus asked, putting his cash back into his backpack.

"Where did you get yours?" Robert asked, returning his to his pocket.

"I'm selling war secrets," he answered, "to Sydney."

"And she's paying you to learn things about Cassidy?" Robert questioned, still confused at the entire "civil war" situation happening at Hurricane High. He didn't care about it, but felt it concerned him enough because it involved Charlie in some way.

"Exactly," he replied, "and soon I'll have enough money. Just a few more days worth of secrets."

"And what are you planning on doing with this money, I already bought you the guns and the ammunition."

"I'm going to lose my virginity," he answered, "to Marla Valentine."

"Respectable goal," Robert commented, "but why Marla in particular?"

"She's the only senior who will have sex with you if you pay her," he answered, "and the chaos of Charlie and John both knowing Marla had sex with me right before I shoot them is hilarious to me." 

"So you're doing it to cause chaos?"

"Exactly."

"Well done," Robert complimented.

Meanwhile, Sydney and the student council president Christine sat in the Student Council Room, glancing over decoration plans for the prom. As the head of the decoration committee, it was Sydney's responsibility to ensure the prom was as spectacular as possible, as Christine had described. 

Anna Cooke entered the room carrying a laptop and a stack of papers, both of which she set down onto the table. She passed the papers to Sydney, then opened the laptop. 

"The votes are in," she answered, "they want a traditional themed prom."

"Good," Sydney responded, "I wasn't ready to have to do an aquatic themed prom."

"Oh I think that would be fun," Ann joked, "we could wear dolphin costumes."

"Dolphin costumes, at prom?" Christine asked.

"Why not?"

Christine rolled her eyes, then left the Student Council Room so the decorating committee, which consisted of just Sydney and Anna, could work to decorate. After Homecoming, Christine had rearranged the decorating committee, and appointed Sydney to be the head, as opposed to just a measly member. Sydney didn't have a permanent established team, she only brought on others when there was an event to decorate. The only exception was Anna, who was her 'assistant' to put it into proper terms. 

It was a ploy. A simple one to keep Anna under close eyes. She was the only one of her and Cassidy's close friends who didn't immediately side with Cassidy, and instead tried to remain neutral. Cassidy tried her hardest to appeal to Anna, by reapplying her facade, while Sydney kept her close, and gave her little opportunity to be with Cassidy. Beginning Monday, when she officially formed the decorating team for the Prom, every lunch Anna would have to eat in the Student Council Room. 

Kimberly, similar to Anna, had been one of the neutrals. So had Jessica. Jessica fell in with Cassidy after Cassidy agreed to ruin Marla, whereas Kimberly fell in with Sydney because of the Marla situation. She faked neutrality for some time, siphoning information from Cassidy and her associates to Sydney, until Cassidy finally realised she was a "double agent" if you will. 

Anna was close to joining her. Sydney could feel it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said don't get used to the quick releases, but... surprise! Six days between stories is better than five months.
> 
> This part is setting the scene for future entries, Part 2 will be exciting!


End file.
